Unexpected Explorations
by LionsMane10
Summary: Sequel to Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky and to my own story "Variations". Leo, Blaze and company find themselves presented with a perplexing mystery. But in pursuing it, will they regret doing so...or even survive it?
1. Chapter 1: Visitors

**Unexpected Explorations**

(A sequel to _Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness,_

and to my own stories: _Variations_ and _Trials of a Pokemon Trainer_.)

_This story is copyrighted by the author. No duplication or reposting is permitted without express consent from the author. Pokémon and Pokémon characters are a trademark of Nintendo. All other characters, characterizations and the story plot are entirely of the author's creation, and any resemblance to any people living or dead is entirely coincidental._

* * *

**Foreword**

This story is the continuation of my two earlier works, _Variations_ and _Trials of a Pokémon Trainer._ Although reading them isn't absolutely necessary before reading this one, I do make a ton of references to events that happened in those two stories, especially _Variations_, and you'll get maximum enjoyment if you've already read them, especially recently.

Really quickly, _Variations_ was my sequel to the _Pokémon: Explorers of Time/Darkness_ storyline, and _Trials of a Pokémon Trainer_ was a short story that filled in part of the gap between the last chapter and the Epilog of _Variations_.

At this time, I'm finishing up the 1st draft, whereas what I'm posting is the second draft. I may do a third draft yet, so the posted chapters may be revised depending a bit on what kind of reviews they get. Heck, I may even change the title!

This story is one of experiments, none of which I'm entirely sure will work or that I can pull off successfully. I've had a number of riskier and more difficult ideas I've been toying with ever since I finished _Variations_, and just finally decided to try them out and see what happens. Although this probably won't matter much to most of you, I do feel obliged to say that I'll be exploring slightly more mature themes in this story as compared to my last two. Not seriously so, as this is still a PG-rated Pokémon story, but just so nobody is caught surprised after reading my other work! I wanted to do as many original things as I could think of, and this is the result.

I sincerely hope you find this at least as enjoyable to read as my other stories and as always, I look forward to reading your feedback!

* * *

**Part I **

**Chapter I: Visitors**

Leo couldn't put his large blue finger on it except to say he was feeling uneasy, and nearly jumped when Blaze stopped unexpectedly in front of him and Grovyle, almost giving him a mouthful of his partner's red and yellow mane hair.

"Sure we're going in the right direction?" the infernape asked pointedly, standing up straight in the tall grass that was the path (such as it was) to apparently get a better look ahead.

Grovyle sighed in uncoiling the crude map in his claws. After studying it a few seconds, "According to the landmarks, we're going in the right direction; this is the path," rather unemotionally.

Frowning while taking an obviously cursory glance at the trees around them, Blaze spread his arms, palms up. "We're in the middle of Mystifying Forest, Grovyle. There _are_ no landmarks!"

If Grovyle felt any unease, he sure wasn't showing it, Leo noted in agreeing with his infernape partner. The terrain was basically flat, with really nothing to keep track of one's location by. Except by the number of turns in the path and such. Rubbing one of his head fins: "What was the last landmark?"

The gecko-like Pokémon stared back with his light green eyes, an almost bored look about them. "The last trail junction."

Although he already guessed that, having read the map and its scant instructions himself before they left Treasure Town, he just wanted to make sure. Then again, he probably needn't worry. Grovyle had proven himself expert with maps on several missions over the last six months since they returned from the human world, a fact reiterated by his human self on more than one occasion.

It wasn't the only thing to be thankful for though; just the mere fact Grovyle was here with them seemed like a miracle all of itself. Although the Grovyle both he and Blaze had worked with to save the Poké world (and more) from the Future-That-No-Longer-Exists in turn no longer existed, this pre-changed-timeline version of him still did. And being basically the same individual, he had all the same mannerisms and personality as the other. The last six months had, in most respects, been like he never left…only he didn't have the same memories or experiences of the last three and a half years that the 'original' Grovyle did.

However…they'd been with this version of Grovyle for so long now, he was starting to forget what the other one was like, he realized with some sadness.

Grovyle continued, "We follow this trail until the first one that goes to the left. We take that to near the end and that's the area we should look for the ring."

Which seemed to satisfy Blaze enough for him to start leading again. But after knocking a small sapling out of the way: "I really don't like these overgrown paths. There's usually a reason why they've been abandoned."

"Well, we took the job, so we need to put the effort into it," Grovyle returned.

On that there could be no argument. Eventually, the promised path to the left revealed itself as a barely discernable break in the trees, one even more overgrown and dark, despite the high overhead sun. Although his swampert skin wasn't going to mind the cool moisture-laden air in the least!

Yet as they continued, he felt his unease worsen. Just a quick shadow caught by the corner of his eye, an unnatural rustling over there… Were they being watched? As Blaze let out a soft growl, he thought about asking if they felt what he did, but decided not to for fear of tipping off whoever it might be…assuming there was anyone there. Doing so could make things worse. Best just to silently prepare.

There was something else, as the trees seemed to close in. Another feeling of something…barely familiar…of something he felt only a couple times before…something dark…

Alright, so it was probably just his imagination. Mystifying Forest tended to give that feeling to many a traveler and explorer, which was why not many who were familiar with the place visited if they could help it.

Including him and Blaze, and since their return from Earth, Grovyle too.

Not that he wasn't happy to have the job however, which was the first in a couple weeks. Especially since it was one that promised to pay quite a bit. Even more amazingly, it appeared on the Guild's job board just as he and Blaze were standing in front of it. Surely such a job would've been grabbed in an instant; lucky them!

Yet…there was one strange thing about it, that being the name of the client…or more specifically, the lack of one. "Anonymous." He'd never seen a job offered before by someone who didn't put their name on it. It made him slightly suspicious that whoever it was, was planning on either stiffing them, or had some nefarious reason for staying unknown. There were several hypothetical reasons he, Blaze and Grovyle had thought up before they left Treasure Town. But again, they had yet to encounter any such instances.

Always a first time, thinking as Grovyle finally stopped them after some time of pushing their way through the increasingly dense undergrowth along the almost vanished path.

"Ha ha, so we're supposed to find a small gold ring in this that was lost a long time ago?" Blaze exclaimed, gesturing to the patches of undergrowth around them.

From his grimace, Leo knew his friend was barely fighting the urge to release some flames to clear the area. Indeed it would make their task easier, but the inhabitants probably wouldn't appreciate it if the flames got out of control!

"We'll have to search carefully, I guess," Leo replied.

So started their long, pain-staking search for a small ring along an heavy-overgrown trail in the middle of the forest, during which he simply couldn't shake his uneasiness. More than once, he swore he saw shadows moving among the trees, only to see nothing when he looked right at it. None too soon, he suggested finally giving up and getting back to the main trail with the sun starting to set. One thing they simply didn't want was to be caught where they were for the night!

"That was frustrating," Blaze lamented with a scowl across his red muzzle as they headed back. "Half a day searching and we didn't find anything."

Grovyle nodded agreement. "Is this the first time you failed on a job?"

That brought a moment of silence.

It was almost true, and Leo wasn't even sure if that one time counted, considering. "Well, there was that time Blaze and I failed to bring back some perfect apples for Wigglytuff…"

"No, _don't_ mention that!" Blaze cried, white pointed teeth showing between his red lips. "I'm still angry over what that team did to us!"

Grovyle's expression turned curious, looking between them several times. "What's this?"

He swore he saw the slightest hint of a grin from the green Pokémon. Well, since the skitty was already out of the bag… Ignoring Blaze's growl, "Basically, when we were still apprentices at the Guild, there was this team whose sole purpose in life was seemingly to give us grief. We were given a job to get some perfect apples for Wigglytuff, but they decided to get to the perfect apple trees ahead of us and steal all the apples before we could get any. As a result, we couldn't complete the job. Then, they presented some of the apples to Wigglytuff just to make themselves look good at our expense."

"Jerks," Grovyle hissed.

"If I see them again, I think we're more than tough enough now to wipe the ground with them," Blaze added.

"It was also over three years ago," Leo pointed out. "And they did help us in the end, so let's just forget about it and make camp."

'Making camp' really consisted little more than gathering some leaves and grass for beds, starting a small camp fire, and passing out some of the fruit and berries from their satchel. After two days, the bag was getting rather light with only enough food for a couple meals left, since by this time tomorrow they should be laying on their beds in Sharpedo Bluff.

Not that they couldn't have brought more…or a lot more items. On Earth, they had lost the items and money they brought with them when Fore-Nine island had exploded in Kol's last-ditch attempt to link Earth and his own planet. Even so, most of their belongings had still been in storage in Treasure Town, and given the plethora of things they were given before they left for Earth, but couldn't bring due to space and weight constraints, they still had more things than they could keep track of.

As a result, ever since they got back to the Poké world, he and Blaze decided to start traveling 'light'. It was a habit they got into on Earth, and they saw no reason to break with that. After all, most items they usually brought with them on jobs they never used anymore; they were strong enough that they could get out of practically any jam on their own without needing strength-boosting berries and such. Just a few pecha berries to counteract poison was about all they needed these days.

And just regular food, of course.

"I wonder how the first harvest is going," Blaze asked idly, revealing his own thoughts might have been wandering the same path while staring onto the flames.

"I think those tomatoes are going to be popular," Grovyle added. "You sure there's nothing like them on this world?"

"Not that I've ever seen," Leo answered. Given the difference in plant types on each world, his human self and Sally brought a bunch of different vegetable seeds with them. Now six months later, the first harvest for a lot of them was at hand. And it wasn't just the humans who were looking forward to it, but many of the town's Pokémon as well. "Can't wait myself, actually." Already he was salivating for the taste of something besides the berries and assorted fruit that was the mainstay of food among the Pokémon of the world. Certainly being on Earth for a year and enjoying its huge variety of foods spoiled him!

The crunch of a twig somewhere close brought him out of that thought as he went instantly on guard with Blaze and Grovyle. They waited on their feet, backs to the fire, only a few seconds before the first bodies emerged from the trees on both sides of the path.

A machoke, turtwig, a pair of nidoran, houndoom, several sableye, cherrim, squirtle, torkoal…all inhabitants of the forest or of areas nearby.

"What is this?" Grovyle asked harshly.

A staraptor flew down to join the growing crowd along with many crobats, just before a golduck rustled through some bushes to emerge onto the path, a quagsire following .

Blaze flinched, and Leo felt him back up into his side. "Arg… Ah Leo, what's going on, ha ha?"

Besides the fact there were so many Pokémon all of the sudden, seemingly coming right at them (with more still emerging!), they all seemed…not right. As in, they weren't responding to Grovyle's continuing shouts. They were just walking straight at them, not deviating, eyes fixed solidly on the three of them. "What do you want?"

"You…die," a large venusaur said, just crashing a small tree out of the way as it joined everyone else.

"Die," others said sporadically. "Human as Pokémon can't continue," another said. "Friends are traitors."

"All…are enemies."

"We're must execute you!"

Grovyle's eyes widened as Blaze screeched. "What? Leo, do something!"

He swung around to his partner, his own voice high-pitched in nervous reply. "Like what?"

"This was all a trap!" Grovyle likewise screeched.

"Die!"

The closest Pokémon were within a bound…

…which is what he considered they do to escape, except for the sheer numbers of Pokémon surrounding them; there was no way they could break through!

Like a tide reaching its limit on the beach, all the Pokémon slowed, then stopped...only to start raising their arms, hands, mouths, beaks or wings…all aiming. The trees around started glowing in the light of the massive buildup of energy from over a hundred Pokémon…

He tried ducking as the energy attacks shot forth, but it was no use; he felt on fire as all the attacks struck at once, searing his skin just before he blacked out.

Was he…

He felt his heart pounding and skin dripping with released water as his eyes shot open. Whipping his head around in alarm, he felt momentarily confused in finding the path was deserted in the soft glow of the dying fire. Blaze and Grovyle were sleeping…

…fitfully?

Both were twitching.

His large hands were on their white haired and green skinned backs in an instant. "Blaze, Grovyle! Wake up!" After many seconds of shaking they finally came to, both breathing hard and themselves wet with sweat.

Blaze was slightly faster, jumping to his feet while peering all around them. "Huh! Where'd he go?"

Grovyle was more quiet in merely sitting upright, looking like he'd seen a ghost.

* * *

Leo Hanson quickly finished setting the freshly picked vegetables in the large (and heavy) wicker basket before heading out the door with it, only briefly pausing at the shoe mat before deciding to go without them with a shrug. It was mid-morning with the sun rising overhead, a light breeze stirring to just keep the edge off the growing warmth, and the sound of the ocean not far away. Best to save them, and going barefoot like all the Pokémon on the grass-covered ground just felt right anyway. Even the more beaten-earth path into town running not that far from the front door was already warm from the sun. In short, it was another beautiful morning in the Treasure Town area.

But unlike other mornings, this morning was special. It would be the first deliveries of vegetables from his and Sally's large backyard garden, and was something they'd been looking forward to for a long time. While preparing for their move to the Poké world, they knew about the type of foods available here, or rather _not_ available. It quickly became plain they needed to bring vegetable seeds with them and start growing them soon, else they'd be subsisting on basically fruits and berries for some time. Although it was what the indigenous Pokémon mostly ate (save for some rare and hard-to-get breads and meats), the human diet required just a little more variety.

Hence, even before their new house had been constructed, they were already clearing the 'backyard' and planting seeds.

As anyone would expect, clearing land and building a (small) house from part lumber / part tent-cloth and some stone was hard and time consuming work, especially only with the hand tools they were able to bring with them from Earth. Fortunately there had been plenty of help. And not just his swampert counterpart, Blaze and Grovyle, but many of the Pokémon from Treasure Town proved just as eager to help the only humans on the planet. As a result, giving them the product of the first harvest seemed an appropriate way to partly repay them.

It was a limited selection though, with the other vegetables not being ready for another week or two. Still, he could already feel the smile spreading on his face in anticipating their reactions when they tasted tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers and various herbs for the first time, and quickened his pace on the short walk into town.

Especially Kangaskhan. Of all the town's Pokémon, she and her son helped the most from donated supplies, to just plain old manual labor. Her son, which he nicknamed Kangason, still enthusiastically showed up twice a week to help with watering and weeding, something that his claws seemed well suited for, being nearly as good as a hoe. Speaking of which…

Stopping on the path, he double-checked he had the special treat. With relief, he found it under the cucumbers, and quickly continued past Duskull's bank with a sidelong glance. No matter how friendly that Pokémon was, he always got a slight chill every time he went past that building that was reminiscent of the shape of its owner. Fortunately, said Pokémon wasn't out so he didn't have to worry about insulting him/it by hurrying past.

Several other Pokémon were out though and each of the familiar faces started greeting him with not just smiles and waves, but verbally.

"Hi Sunflora. Hi Ursaring One, Ursaring Two," he returned with a smile and a wave, earning him a grin from the first and nods from the ursaring pair.

Despite his Pokémon counterpart trying his level best to teach him, he still could not really understand anything the other Pokémon said, with the exception of a couple words or three. Even then, he wasn't always sure, lending support to why, after living with Pokémon for hundreds of millennia, humans still couldn't figure out their language. But in the present case, he was fairly sure of what they were saying. And even when Sunflora hopped and came close to his large basket to peer in with her large sunflower-like head, he could guess what her "Sun sun flowera er?" was asking.

"Yep, first harvested vegetables this morning. On my way to Kangaskhan's."

"Sun!" she exclaimed as she started following.

"Don't worry, the Guild will definitely be getting some soon."

"Flora hersonny." With an almost graceful step, she moved quickly back the other way, presumably to spread the news about the harvest, only to be replaced by other Pokémon who had taken notice.

So it continued all the way to Kangaskhan's warehouse…

…the proprietor of which didn't seem to be at the front desk. Leaving the other Pokémon there, he hoped she was around the back of the smallish warehouse building, as the basket was getting a little heavy! Fortunately she was near the rear entrance, just throwing some berries into a small pot of steaming water that was suspended over a low fire.

Dropping the basket, "Hello Kangaskhan!" he greeted, causing her to swing around.

Pleasant joined surprise on her somewhat kangaroo-like green face. "Kanga!"

Which again, he could be sure was a greeting.

As if to leave no doubt, she hopped over to wrap her large, thick arms around him in a giant bear-hug. "Na khan stan kan!"

Although for that, he hadn't a clue, except perhaps that she was glad to see him. Well, it had been over a week since he'd been over… "Nice to see you too," speaking as she released him from her somewhat crushing grip of a hug. Gesturing to the basket, "We had our first harvest this morning. These are for you, in thanks for everything you and your son have done."

"Kang kanga!" Promptly, the Pokémon lowered her head to the brim of the basket, quickly pulling out a couple tomatoes…and popping one into her mouth as she straightened back up.

"Kangaskhan! Bite down gent…" Too late. The female kangaskhan bit down hard, causing the skin to rupture and red watery tomato juice to squirted everywhere…including his beige tee shirt.

She froze in mid-bite. Through the half-squashed tomato in her mouth: "Kan koo an?" And she started laughing, as only a kangaskhan could.

He had to smile. It was, after all, her first experience with tomatoes and he was glad it was a humorous one.

"Koo an?"

Fishing out the white-cloth wrapped item as she pointed to it, he was about to ask where the intended recipient was when Kangason came bounding around the building. "There you are!"

"Kanga!" the little kangaskhan greeted, coming to a rest beside his mother, who quickly pointed to the basket of veggies. A short conversation ensued between them as son started smiling almost bashfully.

"You did a really good job in weeding and helping us keep all the plants watered, Kangason," Leo said, "so here's a special treat that Sally made just for you last night."

Kangason took the round, (human) hand-size item and quickly peeled the cloth off, revealing a golden-brown angel-food cake ball. A look of recognition came over him as he yipped excitedly.

Even with the fragrances of everything around him, from two kangaskhans nearby, a couple bowls of berries and one cooking, to the smells of other Pokémon more distant, he couldn't stop his mouth from watering at the aroma of the cherry-filled bread ball. "We know you liked those, we saved the last can of cherries and flour we brought from Earth to give you something special for all your help." He watched bemusedly as Kangaskhan tried to restrain her son to no avail. He leapt higher than her head, nearly matching his hopping after a large post fell on his foot during construction of his and Sally's house.

"Kang kang kang!" and as quick as he fell back to the grassy earth, half the ball was consumed, the thick cherry-filled center dripping down his chin.

Just as expected, it was a hit. As it had been when Sally made the only other batch of them many months ago. Just about every Pokémon who tried them loved them, none of them ever having cherries before since they weren't found on the Poké world. And although there was bread, angel-food cake was likewise unheard of.

But they were the last of the cherries until the cherry trees they planted as seeds started producing in some five years…

Unless their colleagues on Earth decided to use the dimensional gate again. Six months…he really had expected them to contact them long before now. If he had to guess, after he and Sally "escaped" to this world in a little bit of slightly unauthorized use, the authorities likely put the kibosh on any further use of the gate. The possibility of never being able to return to Earth was something he and Sally both considered before they left. Seemed that scenario was becoming more and more the reality.

Some knocking from the other side of the building drew all of their attention.

"A clefable?" Leo mumbled to himself, coming around the building at the same time as Kangaskhan reached the front desk.

The roughly four-foot high pinkish Pokémon stared back at him for a long moment, cocking her head and mumbling something in a manner of surprise before her breath seemed to catch. She took a step toward him before Kangaskhan got her attention back and after another curious stare in his direction, started their conversation.

Since he needed to change shirts and get the one on him into some water before the stain set, he returned back to his house with Kangason following, wondering about the clefable. It was the first one he'd ever seen on Earth or the Poké world; his counterpart also never mentioned one as among those as visiting town before either. Sure, unfamiliar Pokémon showed up in town from time to time to gather info about unexplored regions or to meet Wigglytuff (or so his counterpart told him before they returned from Earth; lately, it was more to have a look at the two humans that rumors had been spreading wildly about). But clefables were the only Pokémon species said to have and use technology, and further rumored to have actual space-flight ability (again, as he was told, though it matched speculations he'd read on Earth too). They were also rarely seen, with sightings on Earth being more of the UFO/rumored government cover-up type.

Well OK, there were clefables around on Earth that obviously were nothing more than Pokémon on trainer's teams, but they were still very rare and the unconfirmed reports of them associated with UFOs continued nonetheless.

After a shirt change it was getting close to noon, so he hurriedly told Kangason what few things needed to be done in the garden that day before packing a light lunch and heading to the beach. This was also a somewhat special day in another regard, and Sally was going to meet him there, right after she got done sewing and hanging some curtains Wigglytuff asked her to make for the guild. Few Pokémon had the dexterity and sheer utility that human hands provided, and as such there was a never-ending string of requests for either he or Sally. Mostly they were just simple tasks like sewing, carving, tying, making rope, or even chipping out a pestle from a small slab of stone for grinding seeds (as the resident electivire wanted for concocting some kind of medicine). Actually, that last one took him a while to do, as he'd never tried making anything from stone before, but to his surprise, it hadn't turned out too bad.

Definitely a different set of skills he was acquiring from computer programming and theoretical physics since he left Earth!

Giving the small ground cloth a shake, he spread it out and set the lunch basket on top before sitting down himself on the soft, warm, bright sand of the beach. Sunglasses of course, were a necessity. After a moment, he lay back with a contented sigh, allowing the gentle sea breezes to blow over him while watching a stray wingull circle overhead as it apparently was enjoying the same.

The sun was hot, but as he and Sally discovered after they arrived, they really didn't need sunscreen on this world. Although the sun looked as bright as the Earth's sun, they figured it gave off less UV, since even after a full day in bright sun they only got slightly burned rather then horrendously burned. A few hours wasn't a problem. In fact, as much as they'd been out in the sun over the last six months, both of them were sporting only moderate tans.

Which didn't mean the sun's brightness couldn't hurt the eyes, however.

Even with sunglasses and closed eyelids, he eventually had to sit up again from the heat of the sun-warmed sand. Then just looking idly out to sea, his eyes caught an object moving from behind the cliff-edge. The shape seemed to have a head and neck…

Strange.

Whatever it was, it was under its own power as it stopped for several moments despite the current he knew was out there. Then apparently turning, it grew larger in approaching. It wasn't long before he had a better look at the Pokémon, finding it was mostly light blue with a cream-colored neck and underside, and with what seemed a large shell on its back.

"Oh…that must be a lapras…" mumbling to himself. Recognition not just from his counterpart's description, but he'd also seen them in photo books as well as seen one in a zoo. Just that he'd never met one in the wild before, or in the company of a trainer for that matter.

More surprising than seeing one though, this one was heading for him and in only a few moments, stopped gently in the shallow water several feet from the beach. Floating, it simply stared back at him for some time, to the point where he felt unnerved enough to stand up.

"Come to stare at the human?" he finally asked, putting a friendly tone to it and expecting another one-sided conversation.

"The rumors I heard where true, then," spoke a soft, feminine-like voice from seemingly all around him, and yet nowhere.

Good thing there was soft sand under him, for he tripped on backing up! "You talk!" was the only thing he could get out. Not that a talking Pokémon was a surprise to him, _obviously_, just that his own swampert counterpart was the only one he knew who could speak human.

Even as he screeched to the unfamiliar Pokémon, he realized there was one thing wrong with his statement: that being its mouth hadn't moved. Oh, this one is telepathic…remembering that subtle fact about the species that a few individuals were said to have.

"Yes I am, but if you like…" And its mouth started moving, though in a manner completely disconnected with the human speech he 'heard' in his head: "…I can make it seem as if I'm vocalizing." It cocked its head, gaze curious. "But from your thoughts, you cannot understand the language of Pokémon?"

He shook his head. "No. Wait…you can read my thoughts too?"

"Just the stronger ones," it replied.

The very next thought that occurred to him was to be careful in what he thought before wondering if he could base its gender on the tone of voice he 'heard'.

The lapras instantly started 'speaking' again: "Yes, be careful with your thoughts…" and now smiling slightly, "…and yes, I'm female."

It was suddenly feeling a lot warmer as he grimaced. After sighing in an effort to clear his thoughts, literally, "Would you be the lapras that Leo spoke of, the one who took him to the Hidden Land?"

This time, she actually nodded in addition to replying in the affirmative. "That was some time ago, now."

While fighting to focus on what to ask next while not thinking anything else, only the sound of the surf, wind and the flying wingull could be heard. Since she was so close, he could see various minor scars over her hide and wondered if she was old or been in any fights, but quickly squashed the thoughts in fear she would read them. "Do you have a name, or would you like me to call you Lapras?"

"Other laprases call me Waverider."

He smiled. "Well, nice to meet you, Waverider."

"Likewise," bowing her head slightly.

Once again, an uneasy silence ensued and although he got the impression she wanted something, he was almost afraid to ask. He started moving back toward where he had the basket, intending to instead offer her some berries.

"There _is_ something I want to find out," she began, proving that without speaking, he had indeed asked anyway.

Swinging back around with another grimace, he found her gaze fixed steady on him… "What?"

"There was another rumor I heard. Are you also named Leo?"

"Leo Hanson."

"Are you…the swampert's human counterpart? An alternate version of him, from a different timeline? I've known since I met him he used to be human…"

"Is there any place on this planet where that news hasn't spread?"

"I don't know," the light-blue water-type Pokémon answered. "I assume then you are?"

"Yes I am, I'm what he would be in _this_ timeline…the one where Temporal Tower never collapsed."

She nodded understanding, though in a manner that suggested there was something else.

"Does that bother you?"

Waverider seemed to regard him with an unblinking stare. "No. It's not that. I was only curious. But…" Again, she cocked her head slightly before looking away. "Humans used to be on this world…a very long time ago. Some of my ancestors knew some, but that was many, many generations before me. Laprases since have handed down tales of them."

It was either by the tone of her 'voice' or her body posture he got the impression they weren't totally happy tales. "What happened?" asking tentatively.

"There weren't a great number of humans, but there was some fighting and some other bad things, but also much good. It was mostly a time of peace. Dialga is said to have himself ruled them in that old time. Or at least some of them."

"_Dialga?_"

"They mostly occupied what is now the Hidden Land, but did travel around. I believe your other…the other Leo and Blaze have seen their works a few times in the Hidden Land, though they haven't been there recently."

The questions exploded in his mind, and he couldn't immediately decide on which one.

Waverider continued: "From the old tales, they helped Dialga on a number of different projects, and it was known as the time of Great Works. And then they left."

"Left? Where?" If a lapras was ever capable of a shrug, he was certain she gave one.

"Don't know; the tales don't say. Only Dialga can answer that as far as I know… Is it true…that he is now gone…_forever?_"

Leo sank at the sad, concerned express on her face. "I honestly don't know what happened to him; only that he was made to disappear along with Palkia. I don't know if that means nonexistence or just transported somewhere. I just don't know." Ending with his hands apart in a helpless gesture, he wished he had more, but he could only offer hope in the form of not knowing. The question was one he and the others asked themselves many times over the last year and a half, but there simply was no answer to be had. He feared the only one who knew was Kol, and it was anyone's guess if the human-Pokémon hybrid was dead or alive.

The wingull above screeched once before she answered. "I see; you answer truthfully," sadness in her tone and physical expression. Then: "But all of you saved not just this world, but the human world as well?"

"That's what we're told," replying modestly. And definitely not without cost, remembering the Professor. "I guess Kol had plans for this world as well as Earth, or so he claimed."

Lapras again nodded understanding, before fixing her gaze on a point beyond him, almost as soon as he heard someone approaching.

Sally was already smiling as she came beside him. "A lapras?"

"Hello," Waverider greeted, causing Sally to look all around.

"Telepathy," Leo said, getting an immediate "Oh" from his mate. "She heard rumors about humans here, and wanted to see for herself."

"You are…a female human?" Waverider asked.

Sally started smirking, brushing her long red hair aside against the light breeze. "Last I checked."

Was it his imagination, or was there a slight blush about Waverider's face?

Between the two of them, he and Waverider repeated what they had already talked about as far as the tales of humans from prior times, with a few additional trivial things added by the lapras.

"What exactly was constructed by Dialga and the humans?" Sally asked after.

"Temporal Tower obviously," Waverider said within their minds, "The bridge to it and the temple around it. Beyond that, I don't know, though the tales suggest there is more outside of the Hidden Land."

"The Hidden Land," Sally said thoughtfully. "Leo's counterpart spoke a lot about it. Do you think…we could go there and have a look sometime?" hope clearly on her face.

Indeed, he would like to see it as well, Leo knew as his heart started to quicken at the thought. A whole large island out of sync with time, held 'in between seconds', or so it was described. Yes, definitely worth seeing!

But Waverider's expression held consternation for a good many moments before 'speaking' into their heads. "I…don't know. Only the chosen can go. You are Leo, yet you aren't. It's…puzzling. Maybe if you go with the other Leo and Blaze, it might be alright."

"Oh, we can't forget about Grovyle," Sally added.

At once, the lapras's head snapped up. "Grovyle? I thought he…"

Honestly, at times he did completely forget about the other Grovyle's fate, and was sometimes reminded, awkwardly, that like himself there were two versions of his green friend. Only in Grovyle's case, the other wasn't brought back from non-existence. "Um, this Grovyle is the one from before the timeline split, just like me. He came with us from Earth."

"Oh."

Before any of them could say anything more, footsteps over the sand rapidly approached, caused by one quickly hopping Kangason. Even before stopping, he started speaking excitedly in Poké speech, jumping up and down, pointing back toward the cliff.

Leo spread his hands, gesturing incomprehension.

"I don't understand you," Sally said as Kangason didn't slow down any.

"He says the small black box in your house is talking, asking for someone to answer," Waverider interpreted.

And his heart nearly stopped, staring at Sally.

"My God, they're finally contacting us!" she said, eyes wide.

After a quick goodbye to Waverider, they started rushing back to the house.

* * *

For some reason, the return trip on missions always seemed longer than the one going out. This time, and Leo figured it was mostly due to the lack of sleep and the nightmares they all had when they did, it was far worse. Grovyle looked more than a little peeked around his green eyes and Blaze was letting his red haired tail drag now and then. For himself…he just couldn't stop yawning.

Or thinking.

Of course it was odd they all had nightmares. And of course there was one…_being_ both he and Blaze knew could cause such. He really had to wonder if he actually hadn't been imagining those shadows he thought he saw lurking around in the forest. The thing was though, Palkia said Darkrai had lost his memories. That and no one really knew where he had ended up.

Or was there a different darkrai around? Or something else entirely?

The sun was going below the horizon when they approached Treasure Town, and they all decided to stop at his counterpart's house before they retired to their own home in the side of Sharpedo Bluff. But as soon as they reached the front door, it was apparent something was different. There was a new voice…

"Someone else is here," Grovyle remarked to Blaze as Leo knocked.

The wood-plank door shortly opened, Sally letting them in to the fire-lit interior. "Oh, glad you guys are back finally. How was the mission?" asking before leaning to give him a hug…and a kiss.

"We failed to find the ring," Leo answered.

"Hey, where's mine?" Blaze asked, looking at Sally.

Apparently, Sally didn't need any translation as she gave both the infernape and Grovyle quick peeks on their cheeks.

But his attention quickly turned inside, where his human counterpart was busy talking with a now familiar-sounding voice behind the wall that was blocking some of the interior view.

"Hey, we were finally contacted from Earth," Sally said quickly as she lead them into the living room.

Sitting in front of the fireplace facing his human self, was another very familiar human, one with dark-rimmed glasses, black hair, and an oriental face.

"Ticonamo!" he exclaimed, rushing forward to give the DG project member and friend a hug.

"Good to see you again too, Leo" the man returned. "By the way, this little world of yours is amazing, from what I've seen already. Pokémon everywhere, no humans in sight, save for us, and you weren't kidding when you said they built a town. Incredible!"

"I was beginning to think we would never see any of them again," Blaze remarked behind them, soon getting his turn at a hug as did Grovyle.

It wasn't long before the six of them were sitting in a half circle on the area rug in front of the fireplace, several bowls of berries and fresh vegetables in the middle...along with one plate of delicious-looking desserts of donuts, fudge, brownies and chocolate.

Which Blaze and Grovyle were already sampling.

"Treats from Earth," Ticonamo proclaimed, indicating the plate. "Don't worry, I brought lots more. Oh, and there's chocolate cake too."

"That's right!" Sally exclaimed, as if remembering something important before jumping up to bring over a large covered plate, which when the cover was removed proved to contain the said dessert.

"Uh huh, you know that today is a special occasion, and I don't just mean me arriving here," Ticonamo said while picking up a knife to start slicing the cake.

"Special occasion?" Blaze asked, Leo repeating it in human tongue.

"Well yes," the Asian researcher replied. "Today is Leo's thirty-fifth birthday! And yours too, of course. So, Happy Birthday, the _two_ of you!"

"Yes, Happy Birthday, husband," Sally added before leaning to him to give him a kiss, and then facing Leo: "And to you, my little swampert," giving him another quick kiss on his forehead.

She just had to say 'little', he thought in forming a wide a smile anyway as Blaze and Grovyle added their congrats also.

"Wow, and thirty-five years old," Blaze continued. "But you don't look a day over five."

It _was_ a rather odd feeling. Physically he felt and looked around five, but was mentally seven times that…not that he remembered all that much about his human past…still.

After accepting a slice of the cake and debating a few seconds on how best to eat it before deciding on just using his large fingers, mess be damned, "So, not that I'm happy to see you, but what took so long before opening the dimensional portal?" Then asking before shoveling in most of the slice into his large mouth, "It's been six months."

His human self grimaced a little while consuming part of his own slice. "That's actually what we were just talking about."

"Oh?"

"Well, as I think you all guessed, the Oversight Committee wasn't very happy about you using the gate to come here without permission," Ticonamo said, taking a slice for himself after making sure everyone else had one. "The result was they shut us down for a while. It took a lot of arguing that coming here presented a research opportunity. Since you guys were already here, why not make use of the gate and follow…you know, for research purposes, of course. A planet full of Pokémon with their own civilization, I mean, come on! Eventually, we got them to see the light, and I was able to come here."

Leo noticed his human self wave his hand in a circle toward Ticonamo while downing another bite.

"Oh, right," he continued, now facing Leo. "My purpose here was to make sure the gate was still working, to deliver supplies, and talk to you guys partly to make sure the area was safe for future missions. In fact, tomorrow the next three visitors are coming, though I have to take them back after thirty-six hours. Boy, I tell you it was really hard getting approval for them too, but you've never seen an angry female insist before…two of them, actually. That meeting with the Oversight Committee was quite something…"

Leo had a single question, doubly curious since Ticonamo was directing all this at him. "Who?"

"Christina and Lonny."

He coughed. _Lonny?_

"Wow," Blaze said beside him, his expression between surprise and grinning.

"Who's the third?" Grovyle asked.

Leo repeated the question, realizing the man had only said two names. If Lonny was coming, could it…!

Ticonamo appeared to smile in the firelight for a moment. "Well, shortly after you guys left, Lonny produced an egg, according to Christina. In fact, the woman claims that you, Leo, had something to do with it."

All eyes went to him, although Leo was sure he had already told everyone present (save for Ticonamo). No…wait. Only he and Blaze knew! Sheepishly, he smiled.

"So, Lonny's bringing her mudkip son, Chip, to see his dad."

Such was the flood of emotions he felt, that he hardly noticed his human self's uncomfortable expression. "Uh…congratulations."

On the other side of the other Leo, Sally nudged him while wearing a smile that almost shone. "Congratulations, Leo!"

"And you used to not like her…" Grovyle said.

Leo shrugged. "She grew on me…a little," answering in Poké speech.

The gecko Pokémon raised one eye ridge slightly.

"Somehow, I just knew when I saw the two of you together, you'll eventually end up together," Sally continued. "Even though she did beat you up pretty good when you first met."

"I have to admit, you two did spent a lot of time together after a while," Blaze furthered.

"She finally won you over," his human self said. "Christina told me more than once how much she thought Lonny was attracted to you. You know, speaking purely as a human, she did look kinda of cute…in a swampertish way."

Ticonamo laughed. "Yeah, I'm surprised it took them as long as it did."

"You know, we should think about having one soon," Sally said while draping herself over the human Leo. "You know, being your birthday and all."

His human self cleared his throat, smirking while Leo grabbed another slice of cake, hoping to hide his discomfort. At least his blue skin didn't show blushing. Among Pokémon, sex was a rather delicate and uncomfortable subject…with a few exceptions, and it really boiled down to very little discussion before caving into instinct and doing 'it' (or so he gathered from others). For humans, that didn't seem to be quite the case.

After a bit more of good-natured ribbing, the subject finally changed, much to his relief. In talking about the times they had together, he had to ask if there was any sign of Dialga or Palkia.

Ticonamo shook his head. "Not that I or anyone has seen. Oh, that reminds me. I heard in passing from one of the members of the committee that the government had located Kol."

Sally sat up abruptly while the rest of them tensed. "Kol?"

Nodding, "Yes. A few months ago already, I guess, according to rumor."

"Damn, he _did_ survive," Leo's human self said almost in a mumble. "What the hell is he up to? He is trying to build another gate?"

"No. Apparently he hasn't been doing anything, at least as far as the committee said. In fact, they said they think he's practically destitute. Been doing a little small time theft of like food and stuff, but otherwise hasn't been doing anything at all."

"When are they going to throw him in prison?" Blaze asked.

Leo translated, hoping for the same thing.

"All I heard was they were just keeping him under close surveillance. Really, how would you keep a being with that much power locked up anyway?"

"Kill him instead?" Grovyle suggested with a hard swallow, obviously not liking the suggestion.

Leo still almost shot his friend a hard look, but he was right. Letting a being with that much power and the desire to do harm to simply roam free was not a good thing. And since it was probably impossible to keep him locked up, then what other option was there?

"As best as I can gather, as long as Kol isn't doing anything, the authorities seem content to just let him be."

Although that may be working for the time being, he had a hard time imagining that being a good idea over the long term.

* * *

Can Pokémon get sugar highs? The answer was definitely an unqualified yes, Leo thought. After numerous slices of chocolate cake, many donuts, untold pieces of fudge and countless brownies, he had been about to go all the way to one of the mountains, climb it _and_ get back…that night yet.

That was an hour ago. Now, it was all he could do to drag his feet through town on the way to their cliff-side dwelling. Considering how tired he was before all the sugar, well, he was doubly exhausted now. Assuming of course he didn't throw up along the way.

Obviously he knew better. But it had been six months without those kinds of treats and really, he did lose track of how many he ate considering what they had been talking about. Besides, it was his birthday after all. If one couldn't eat themselves sick on that day, then when?

"Better see Celebi tomorrow…" Grovyle mumbled. "After everyone arrives from Earth."

Grovyle usually didn't mention his relationship with Celebi much. Normally he just went off for a day now and then to go see her. That fact he was saying such only meant that not having seen her for a while due to the mission was getting to him…that and his fatigue.

At least Celebi was around for him to visit pretty much whenever he wanted (not that Celebi didn't come around for a visit herself occasionally).

He, on the other hand, hadn't seen Lonny for six months. And had a son during that time.

_His_ son_._

It wasn't long ago when that would have been laughable; considering the way they had met, that end result was highly unlikely. Sally wasn't kidding in that Lonny had beat him pretty good in their first meeting, a fact which still embarrassed him. Well alright, his left arm was broken and still in a cast at the time and she was bigger and stronger than him, so he deserved some slack.

Yet it was evident right after the battle she was interested in him, though the opposite certainly hadn't been true. She scared him, from her strength to her bold, dominating manner. He was quite sure at the time if Blaze and Grovyle hadn't been with him in the same room during their night in the boat house, she would have made a much stronger attempt to 'have some fun' with him, likely dragging him down on the beach for it.

Since then for some weird reason, she had never been very far from his thoughts, though he remained convinced any relationship with her would have been impossible. At first. Then…she suddenly showed up for a visit along with Christina at Chris's apartment door. How she had made Christina to understand what she wanted, he didn't know, but after that first visit they showed up regularly, all the way up to the tournaments. (Chris and Christina had something going too, though he made it a point to not take much notice of their personal affairs.)

With him and Lonny sharing the living room (along with Blaze) during those times, it made for some really uncomfortable nights. Even worse was Christina wanting a rematch between him and Lonny. He had nightmares of being in the hospital for weeks if that ever came to pass! At least he had been able to get out of _that_ situation by insisting he had since become a trainer, and proving it thanks to having Rosy.

Which oddly, only seemed to increase her attraction to him! But during that time she really did grow on him and he couldn't forget the way she smiled when visiting him at the park's practice field, especially when he won as a trainer in front of her. (Her ability to help keep humans away from him came in handy too…)

It wasn't without a good deal of kicking and screaming, however. He fought the feelings as best he could, simply because he couldn't believe that he could ever become attracted to _her_. Then one night several days before the start of the Tournaments, she tilted her head a little, her eyes full of desire and…

…that was it.

He needed her and she him, so they satisfied each other. For that moment, anyway. Something cemented inside him and he finally accepted he did love her. He'd been sorely missing her (as well as more of those 'heated' moments) ever since.

And now also the son that apparently was still an egg inside her when he left.

Why hadn't she told him before he left, instead of telling Blaze and instructing him not to divulge it until after they departed?

That one thing had been eating him since.

One particularly strong gust of wind blew through the town as they crossed the bridge into the other half, causing Blaze's long red and yellow mane to wrap completely around his face. Grovyle's head leaf did something similar.

"Strong wind tonight," Leo commented while considering going to all fours from sheer exhaustion. He really didn't want to get his hands dirty from the town's dirt paths, but...

"Leo, Blaze, Grovyle!"

He heard the shout as they passed Kangaskhan's warehouse, turning around with his partners to see the kangaroo-like Pokémon, who often acted as an big aunt to all of them, walk toward them from the side of the building.

"Kangaskhan," Blaze greeted her tiredly. "You're still awake at this time?"

"I was waiting for you three honeys," she replied, but quite not in her usual jolly manner.

"What's going on?" Grovyle asked. "This sounds serious."

At once, Kangaskhan's expression brightened a little. "Oh, sorry, it probably isn't, just tired!"

Leo felt a little relief.

"There was a _clefable_ here earlier," the medium green Pokémon continued before leaning a little closer to all of them. In a half-whisper: "She said she was looking for _you three_."

"Really?" Leo asked with the yawn he'd been unsuccessfully fighting off. It wasn't (too) unusual; they occasionally got requests to do a mission every now and then. But a rarely-seen clefable, though…

"For a mission, I assume," Blaze said, mirroring the thought as Grovyle's eyes opened a little wider.

"So she said. But, she also said it was one that she believed only you could do. And that wasn't all. She was also asking about the humans. I think she was implying they were involved in it."

"Really?" OK, his interest was certainly piqued now as he stood up straighter. "Did she say why?"

Kangaskhan raised one of her claws to her chin and gave it a scratch before replying, "No, but it was puzzling. When I told her about your human self and Sally being here, she asked if there was a third one."

"Ticonamo?" Blaze asked.

"Oh, that black-haired one that arrived this afternoon?" She started shaking her head, "No honey, the clefable said this human was supposed to be blue."

Leo exchanged glances with both Blaze and Grovyle in confusion.

"Humans don't come blue," Grovyle stated with a raised brow over one eye.

"Uh, they don't?" Kangaskhan asked.

"Most definitely not," Leo confirmed. "White, black and slightly yellow or red, but not blue." Not unless there had been some rather significant changes since he left Earth that Ticonamo hadn't told them about!

"Well, that's what she said." Folding her arms, she did look quite sure of the fact. "Of course, I told the dear no such human was around here…"

"Very odd," Blaze commented after they came down the stairs and into their cliff-side dwelling.

Leo dunked his head in the water basin, letting his gills do the breathing while thinking of what the information could mean. Could the clefable have been confused? Lonny was arriving tomorrow morning and she was blue, but definitely not human, and it would be hard to believe even a blind slakoth could confuse a swampert with a human. But that raised a far more disturbing question: if that _was_ the case, then how would an unfamiliar clefable know about their arrival in the future?

Raising his face from the basin, he turned to see both Blaze and Grovyle wearing questioning expressions. "I think we need to talk to this clefable," he said, getting instant agreement.


	2. Chapter 2: Change

**Chapter II: Change**

Leo Hanson stood in the middle of Treasure Town, glancing at his watch every minute or so.

"They'll get here when they get here," Sally said with a smirk, grabbing his wrist to cover up the watch. "Excited as a schoolboy, as the saying goes."

"You should talk," he returned, observing his mate was fidgeting herself.

"Touché."

"We might not have the time quite synced with this world yet," Ticonamo said after another moment, sighing as he turned about and taking in the town and its inhabitants…most of which were standing around them in anticipation with more joining by the second. "What is it you said, twenty-four and a quarter hours per day here?"

Leo nodded, just getting slightly nervous with the number of Pokémon around. He never was that comfortable in a crowd, but apparently the opening of a dimensional portal from Earth was a big event. And since they (meaning his swampert counterpart, Blaze and Grovyle) told everyone that morning what was going to happen, the town's Pokémon of course had to gather around, along with the Guild's Pokémon arriving shortly before, including the head, Wigglytuff.

But they were late.

As Sally leaned up against him and he wrapped an arm around her, he idly watched his counterpart. The swampert also seemed slightly nervous. Well, it was his 'girlfriend' and their kid who were arriving along with Christina. Definitely nervous…yet he seemed to be scanning the crowd, as if looking for someone.

* * *

Leo wanted to find the clefable, but she didn't appear to be around. She hadn't even been at Spinda's Café that morning.

"I just don't see her anywhere," Blaze said shortly in joining him along with Grovyle who was shaking his head.

He was about to ask if they should look out of town next, but it was something for later as an "Ooo" around them brought their attention to the area where the portal was supposed to open. Indeed, a grayish ball was forming, though several meters from where Ticonamo thought it would be. Apparently they hadn't gotten the precision down as much as they thought.

Within seconds, the ball solidified with defined edges to it, a slight breeze emanating from it's vicinity.

"Portal successfully formed," Ticonamo said into a small, black radio he was wearing on his front as Pokémon crowded around all of them in an effort to get a better look. "They're good to go, George." Then to him, his human self and Sally: "About two minutes."

Two minutes, then he'll see Lonny for the first time in six months, and his son for the very first time.

He nearly gulped on some water that spontaneously leaked in his mouth.

Yep, he was nervous. Would Chip even like him?

"Don't worry Leo, I just know he'll like you," Blaze said.

Somehow his partner always knew what he was thinking and what to say, bringing a slight smile to him.

"Exciting moment," Chatot said, with a slight flap of one of his multi-colored wings as he settled down beside them.

"Uh, yeah, certainly that," Leo replied, not quite able to hide his nervousness from his tone. Was his back fin shaking?

Pointing with his wing to the trio of humans beside them, "I mean, yet another human to visit us. And I can't wait to meet this Lonny swampert I've heard about."

"She does sound interesting," Wigglytuff added in a sing-song voice. "Wonder if she'll like Perfect apples."

He just hoped she wouldn't embarrass him. He never did reveal all the details of their first meeting to any of the Pokémon around them…

"What was that?" Grovyle suddenly asked quietly from behind.

Leo looked in sync with Blaze to where the gecko-like Pokémon had his gaze fixed on a nearby totem pole of various Pokémon heads…which seemed utterly ordinary.

"What was what?" Blaze asked, cocking his head somewhat.

Grovyle didn't answer for several seconds before shaking his own head. "I…thought I saw a dark…"

"Hey!" came a sharp, almost ear-splitting shout from Loudred. "There's someone…"

"I see…_it?_" Chatot said, uncertainty in his voice, before Loudred, Corphish and the ursaring dual took after something that had apparently moved behind one of the houses.

Leo finally saw it too as it came from out from behind, with "it" being a moving, dark shadow. A shadow with an eerily familiar shape as it raced from behind another building to half-way around the crowd, the ursarings in very hot teeth-bared pursuit, then moving toward the other end of town an apparent attempt to elude everyone.

"It can't be…" Blaze said, open mouthed.

"What's going on?" Sally asked with an urgent tone.

Loudred and the others soon had the shadow caught between them and many of the other Pokémon. And now that it was out in the open, there was no mistaking the black floating form and the tuff of white hair covering one eye.

"Darkrai," Leo breathed.

"What is _he_ doing here?" Chatot said, both fear and incredulity in his voice.

"Let me _be!_" Darkrai demanded, clear warning in his low, slightly growly voice.

"You have a lot of nerve showing up here!" Loudred shouted back at ear-splitting level, to the cheers of many of the others.

"Why are you all against me?"

"Get out of here!" Corphish yelled, waving a claw in a direction that was clearly out of town.

An instant later, someone fired off a lightning bolt…which was all the incentive others needed to start attacking the dark being!

Darkrai responded by dodging and ripping off a dark pulse, draping the ground with pure dark energy and causing many Pokémon to fall.

Before Leo could do anything, Grovyle shoved past Wigglytuff and over Chatot, one of his wrist blades glowing. He really didn't feel much concern as Darkrai released a shadow ball, knowing it would be dodged by Grovyle's superior agility. The green gecko Pokémon did of course dodge, but then in horror…he realized it's trajectory as the dark nebulous ball sailed wide of him and Blaze, and toward…

All three humans and Chatot gasped together as the ball hit the portal and entered.

"Is that…" Wigglytuff started to ask before Darkrai screamed behind them.

Leo spared only a fleeting glance as Grovyle, together with Loudred and the ursarings knocked the dark being down and pinned him, instead facing the portal as his heart pounded in his chest as the seconds past…

…with nothing seemingly happening?

Then…a blonde-haired human female finally emerged from the portal…holding one blue and white mudkip. Feeling himself breathe again, he sighed at the sight of them appearing unhurt.

And that mudkip…he must be…

"Where's Lonny?" Blaze asked.

He didn't have to translate, since Ticonamo asked the same thing in human speak.

"She's right behind me, I think," Christina replied, sounding unsettled. "But, is that supposed to happen?" jabbing a thumb back toward the grey dimensional opening. "A dark ball, looked like a _shadow_ _ball _I think, whizzed past me! I think it grazed me," as she looked down to her bare left arm.

Leo listened to his human self quickly explain what just happened, his concern rapidly growing as the seconds ticked past without Lonny coming out.

"This doesn't feel right," Chatot said, flapping his wings to lift up and fly toward the portal, eventually hovering over it. "Wait, I think she's arriving!"

"Thank good…" Leo started in reply as Lonny's shape started emerging…

It was immediately evident something was seriously wrong. Her shape didn't resemble that of a swampert at all, and as she fully came out, it was more like that of…

"A _human?_" Blaze screeched.

Human-shaped without doubt, Leo realized in horror. Yet, she was a light blue/white in the correct pattern for a swampert, along with some small head fins! She was also naked, proving how many female human attributes she had as well.

Looking dazed and stunned, Lonny stood shakily on the solid ground in front of the portal with no one moving toward her. Slowly, unsteadily, she looked down as she raised a shaky arm. "Four fingers?" she said softly…before closing her eyes and collapsing to the ground.

Feeling his heart leap into his mouth, Leo rushed to her with Blaze right behind. "Lonny!" The next few moments passed in a blur, Pokémon crowding around, Ticonamo shouting something about "Pokémon down," into the radio, Christina shaking Lonny in a futile attempt to awaken her.

Eventually, he acknowledged Sally and his human self in their advice to carry her to their house, and together with his counterpart, they did so. Not long after getting the former swampert inside, Sally wrapped the naked human in a blanket…

* * *

Leo Hanson was frozen in shock. Obviously he was familiar with how he (or rather his other self from the Future That No Longer Exists) became a Pokémon. It was an unique event from what he knew. He'd also never heard of the opposite occurring.

First thing he wanted to do was ask the other Pokémon around if they knew anything, but his swampert counterpart seemed too much in shock himself to have been translating at that moment.

But as the (former) swampert collapsed, he had to force himself to move behind Leo to try and help…whatever it was that he could do. Yet a stray thought as he looked down on the unconscious being had him wondering just how many of the Pokémon had ever seen a human female without clothes before, Kangason's accidental look at Sally when she was in the shower that one time notwithstanding. Although Lonny certainly had all the essential human features…the swampert's transformation didn't look complete…

So…what the heck happened?

Let's see, his counterpart said his change occurred after taking an erect attack from Darkrai while traveling through time. Lonny got hit while inside the dimensional portal...and the darkrai's attack had entered the portal…. The _same_ attack, maybe?

Did it matter?

After quickly suggesting to take her to his and Sally's house and put in bed, his mind continued to swim as he helped carry the new human. Perhaps the how wasn't so important at that point; what he really was worrying about was if she was going to survive.

Dipping the washcloth in the basin of water, he hurried to where they had laid Lonny on the bed in their bedroom and put the cool cloth on her forehead. She wasn't stirring. She was breathing, and after placing a couple fingers on her neck, Sally announced after a tense moment her heartbeat seemed to be strong and steady.

"Maybe she just needs rest?" Christina said quietly with a hopeful note but with a tear on her face, finally releasing the struggling mudkip from her arms so that it could stand on floor near the bed. "Don't wake her!" she told the small Pokémon.

"Mud…kip," the poor thing replied sadly, tears running down it's own face much more freely.

Sally sighed, getting up slowly after hesitating. "Come on, let's go to the other room."

Leo followed his counterpart, Blaze, Grovyle, Christina, Ticonamo and Sally out. In the main room, the pink Guildmaster Wigglytuff apparently had let himself in and been waiting quietly by himself.

"Wigg wigg won?"

"She's sleeping," Sally answered, apparently guessing the question.

"My Lonny…a…human now?" Christina asked, leaning against one of the thick posts holding up the roof before gradually sliding down it to the rug-covered floor. "_How_ is this _possible?_ This can't _happen!_"

Oh…what could he do or say, Leo wondered. Looking to his counterpart, he seemed still stunned himself while Blaze and Grovyle were merely standing beside him, not even talking between themselves in exchanging glances with Wigglytuff.

By Christina, Sally kneeled down as Ticonamo settled himself down on one of the cut-log stools near both of them, placing his face in his hands. "Leo…was this how you became a Pokémon?"

* * *

Leo barely heard the question, only eventually noticing Ticonamo and his human self staring at him when it registered a moment later. "I…don't remember it happening, but it was from an attack. Darkrai never said what."

Lonny…his poor mate! What was he supposed to do? This also wasn't exactly the circumstances under which he thought he'd be meeting his son for the first time either. Presently, the poor little mudkip was in the bedroom, crying his eyes out.

"That damned Darkrai," Blaze mumbled in agitation, finding a corner to sit in, red skinned face braced on his yellow-haired knees. "Why did he have to come here…and at that particular moment?"

Anger came over him in an instant. "First he changed me, and now he did the reverse to her." Balling his three fingers into a fist: "I'm going to find him!"

"He's being held at the Guild," Wigglytuff provided. "We should all go and talk to him."

"I'm going to do more than talk!" Leo shot back. "I'm going to make him change her back!" Unfortunately Darkrai had already admitted about three years prior during their showdown in Dark Crater that he didn't know how he made him into a Pokémon in the first place, but given that the same type of thing has now happened twice, he sure as hell wasn't going to accept that anymore. One way or another, that damned creature was going to undo what he did!

While following Wigglytuff back to the Guild though, he began to rethink at least a few things he planned on saying. If Darkrai was still truly suffering from his own loss of memory due to Palkia's attack on him, it would probably be in everyone's best interest if he didn't bring up past events.

_Damn._ How he would dearly love to pay him back for all accursed things he had done, not just to him, but to everyone who was affected by his selfish actions. Then again, if it wasn't for all those events, he would still be human and probably never have met his best friend and partner. There'd still be only one of him, living on Earth, with never a change in timelines.

Walking beside him in a slightly more-upright-than-usual gate, Blaze's long red and yellow mane was puffed and his red face scowled up in clear anger. Grovyle seemed a little calmer, though he was staring straight ahead in a no nonsense, business-like manner, his long head leaf moving very little behind him as he walked.

Once on top of the small hill the Guild was located on, the pink and white Guildmaster led them down the ladder/steps to the first level, where in one corner what looked like all the Guild's Pokémon and more were keeping Darkrai surrounded. No one was saying anything, save for a mumble from the later. And for the second time that morning, his heart skipped a beat on seeing the dark Pokémon who had caused everyone, but especially him and Blaze, so much grief.

After the others parted to let them through, the Guildmaster seemed about to say something, but hesitated before whirling around and stepping aside, gesturing for him, Blaze and Grovyle to approach.

Leo knew he was glaring as he moved to stand just in front of the normally floating black Pokémon, almost wondering why with all his power, he wasn't struggling. Perhaps all of this was a trick? Still, even he wouldn't stand much of a chance against everyone present. He stared hard into the Pokémon's one uncovered eye for a long moment, then angrily: "Why did you do it?"

"Do what, exactly?" Darkrai replied in his low, smooth voice.

He'd expected a defiant answer or a laugh or something similar. Certainly not the uncharacteristically calm and soft answer, or question rather, he just got. "Change Lonny…the swampert, into a human?"

Darkrai widened his eye a little. "I was defending myself. I made a shadow ball. It happened to hit…that…whatever it was. A dimensional portal someone mentioned?"

Someone got smacked, Loudred letting out an "Ow! Hey, I didn't say anything that wasn't already…"

Leo bit his lip in holding back what he badly wanted to say, about this being the second time he had done something like that. Glancing at his partners, he had to make sure they didn't say anything relating to the past either despite knowing them well enough to know they wouldn't.

Drawing up close, "You expect us to believe that?" Blaze shouted. "You had better undo what you just did!"

On the other side of him, Grovyle started scowling as both his leaf blades began glowing with energy.

"I don't know how it happened, much less how to undo it," Darkrai replied, eye firmly on the grass-type.

Rumblings came from the Guild's Pokémon, with Loudred taking a step forward as Wigglytuff stopped him with an outstretched arm. "Why did you even come here?" he blurted out instead.

So sudden was Darkrai's turn of his head toward the Pokémon, that everyone jumped. "For as long as I can remember, which isn't all that long, I've heard rumors that I am a bad Pokémon. Always my name is mentioned with bad things that happened in the past, and in connection with the three of you!"

Leo refused to back up as Darkrai pointed to him, Blaze and Grovyle, despite feeling unease with their old adversary's sudden agitation.

"I decided to get some answers, and so had a mission set up so I could finally observe you myself, in secret."

"YOU set up the mission to find that ring?" Blaze shouted.

"That ring never existed then," Grovyle said, his leaf blades still glowing. "And you were the shadow I thought I kept seeing, and the cause of the nightmares we all had."

So Darkrai _was_ the cause of all that, Leo thought. His suspicion was right!

"I watched you, hoping for some clues to my past. The nightmares were unintentional. Since I didn't obtain any answers, I followed you here. I _didn't_ intend to get caught…or to have to fight."

Leo very badly didn't want to believe him. He wanted to believe all this was fully intentional, fully evil, so he would have an excuse to pummel the dark-type Pokémon. But if Darkrai's actions were truly accidental with no intent of harm, could he in all good conscience 'take him out'? Certainly his past actions gave him more than enough excuse, except for the pesky fact this Pokémon had no memory of what he had done. Without knowing why he was being punished, most of the satisfaction would be taken out of such an act.

Corphish snorted, clicking his two red claws together. "Yeah, well let me help you remember then…"

"Corphish!" Wigglytuff shouted in a manner threatening his sonic voice. "Let the past stay in the past. This may be hard, but from this point forward, let us treat each other with respect and leave it at that." Then in sing-song: "Starting now, the slate is clean…"

In staring at the Guildmaster, Leo admired him in stunned silence for his willingness to forget that this one Pokémon very nearly locked their world in eternal darkness and destroyed Earth (in his timeline, he actually succeeded). Yet…maybe…it was time for such. If not killing him, what good would any punishment do, short of creating a new enemy?

As Wigglytuff looked at him, Blaze and Grovyle, he added: "…except for the current event, of course. The decision on what to do must come from the one affected: Lonny." Then with a half-smile: "…and Leo."

Leo grimaced. Of course, he _would_ know about his relationship with her.

"Do you want to beat him up here or outside?" Blaze asked, his mane puffing greatly and tail whipping.

Grovyle's leaves started losing their glow however, as he folded his arms.

Looking around the room, there was a mixture of expressions, ranging from anger to sadness.

After a long look at Darkrai, who still had an irritating calmness about him, he finally faced Wigglytuff again. "Let him go. I'll accept it was an accident, one that we set in motion." Silence as he backed away, leaving Grovyle and a stunned looking Blaze still in front of the dark Pokémon. "Blaze, Grovyle, we need to let him go," he repeated in a calm voice.

Loudred's mouth was gaping long before anything came out. "What…how…"

"Wigglytuff is right. Someone has to be the first to forgive. Of course, if there's any way Lonny's transformation can be reversed, I expect you to do it," directing the last sentence to Darkrai.

The dark floating Pokémon looked nonplussed, but eventually nodded. "If I discover how to undo it, I will. For what it's worth, you have my word." Then taking advantage of the clearing path, he floated slowly past everyone and to the opening leading up and out.

"Well, I think you did the right thing Leo," Sunflora said, giving him a pat on the back.

About half the others agreed, the remainder…

"I would've still socked him…" Corphish said. "…and _then_ forgiven him. It'd be the least I could do! It was because of him your existence was almost erased, Leo!"

Admittedly, it took every shred of reasoning to even half convince himself that the Darkrai who did that no longer existed…

"Well, I guess you did right," Blaze said with not quite complete-sounding certainty as the three of them left the guild under the glare of the late-morning sun. "But because of what he did, he took you from me for many months. I still have a hard time getting over that." The infernape sighed, sagging a little in his gate and his mane fully deflating to hang limp down his back. "Still, revenge isn't really the answer, I suppose."

"No, it only continues the cycle of violence," Grovyle added. "So it is on Earth among humans…and many Pokémon. Very brave of you Leo to not fall into that trap. Nothing less than I'd expect, of course, knowing you. _Both_ versions of you, and you too Blaze."

Leo glanced over to find his green partner half smiling, before nearly tripping on some branch that fell over part of the path, presumably from last night's wind.

Blaze leapt over it in a monkey-like fashion before turning and throwing it out of the way. "Wonder if Lonny's awake."

"How long were you out after your transformation, Leo?" Grovyle asked.

Really, he hadn't a clue. How long had he been laying on that beach after becoming a mudkip?

Mudkip…

His eyes shot open, realizing he had forgotten all about Chip for a while when he shot off to deal with Darkrai. In fact, he hadn't even said 'Hi' yet! Oh…what the hell was he going to tell him?

Overhead, a wingull floating on the breeze had the audacity to shout out a "Lovely day!" down to them. It took all his control to not shout back a "Stick it!"

* * *

Leo Hanson followed Sally into their bedroom to pick up Chip and hand the limp but no longer crying mudkip to her. They figured the poor little guy could use some food and water by now, and probably a whole lot of comforting.

"What a way to meet for the first time," saying quietly as his wife turned to leave. Silently, he looked down at his counterpart's still sleeping mate, her breathing deep and slow. Half covered by a blanket, her new human female form was still easy to see, but there were definite reminders of her previous form.

Her skin color was the most obvious, being blue and white in the pattern of a swampert, although the blue was much lighter, like halfway between white-skinned human and swampert blue, and the white being the same, but more stark. On her head were two diminutive purple fins, rising from above her eyes at mid-forehead to perhaps three inches at their highest point on top. And from an earlier look, he'd seen a similar fin remnant stretching from her mid-back to near her tailbone, being more like a raised ridge along her spine rather than a fin. Probably would be painful to lay on if she ever laid on a hard surface. Further features included her checks, which had what he was sure were remnants of the spiky swampert gills, reduced to just some light hue of green colored patches and barely noticeable swellings were the points would be.

Although he worried about her internal organs and how they were working, it wasn't her physical form he most worried about, it was her mental. After his counterpart's transformation, he had lost his memory nearly completely. Would Lonny remember anything? Or would her personality be altered? Or something else, more subtle?

"Come on," Sally hissed, looking in through the partly open door, still holding the limp mudkip, who was staring blankly at his mother.

After adjusting the curtains to block out a little more light from the window, he left, shutting the house's sole interior door as quietly as he could, not quite defeating the squeak of the hinge. Then, he tried to help Sally and Christina get Chip to eat something. It was a challenge; he didn't want anything, but did seem to like Sally's touch enough to not want to be let go.

"He likes you," Christina said, like one who was drained of emotion. She was looking rather fatigued, which was entirely understandable, especially considering she, Lonny and Chip had left in the evening to arrive on the Poké world during the day.

Sally smiled weakly while stroking his blue skin down his back. "Don't worry, your mother will be fine. We'll take care of her and you."

Christina took some offered Poké food from Ticonamo to hold it in front of the mudkip's face, but the little Pokémon buried his head into Sally's arm.

Leo gave the little guy a gentle stroke along the side of his head, hoping to reinforce what his wife told him. Still, his real hope was that his counterpart was making progress, specifically in getting that Darkrai Pokémon to reverse what it did. But then, since Darkrai didn't (or couldn't) undo turning his counterpart into a Pokémon, he just didn't hold out much hope for that.

No, they had better prepare for helping Lonny as best they could in adjusting to life as a human. He hadn't been around Lonny that much; other then that night and morning at Harry's boathouse when they all first met, he could recall seeing the female swampert about three other times. But from those, it was evident she was a proud Pokémon, proud of what she was and very confident in what she could do. Assuming she retained any memory of who she was, what happened to her might be more then she could handle.

They also needed to consider how his counterpart was going to be affected. His mate, his love, just got taken from him, more or less. And Chip may now be without a mother. All he had now was a father he hadn't really met yet.

This wasn't going to be an easy time the next few days…

"Would you get some water in a bowl?" Sally asked, finally sitting on the floor instead of kneeling while still holding a barely moving Chip.

He had just filled a small bowl from the large water tank and set it in front of the mudkip when the front door opened. Watching expectantly with Sally as his counterpart, Blaze and Grovyle all trudged in, he fought to give them a few seconds as they barely stopped to wipe their feet on the floor mat before asking how it went.

"How's Lonny?" were the first words out of the swampert's mouth, though.

"Still sleeping," he replied. "So how'd it go?"

Blaze said something in Poké language, to which the swampert gave only a slight nod. With a sigh that pretty much said everything, "Like my own transformation, Darkrai didn't know how to reverse it. It was an accident…_again._" The swampert paused for a moment, looking in and down at the mudkip while Blaze and Grovyle moved around him to stand near the table, both looking like they were needing something to do.

Sally gave them and Ticonamo that, with a request to slice up some fruit and berries.

"Oh, maybe he'll eat that," Christina commented. Then with quick anger: "Damnit, that should be me in there!" pointing to the bedroom. "_I_ was the one that attack nearly hit;_ I_ should've been the one to have been changed, not Lonny! God, I'm not the one who has a child!"

"It was just random, Christina," Ticonamo said. "It was a fluke that dark ball or whatever it was missed one of those Pokémon, a fluke it instead went into the portal, and another fluke it just grazed you…"

The black-haired Asian paused and Leo thought at first it was because of Christina's dirty look at him, but he continued with "I wonder, if by grazing you, it might of picked up some of your DNA, and transferred it to Lonny. I mean, one thing I noticed right away, was you are both the same height, and both have the same body shape, and your faces…."

Christina let out a very angry-sounding sigh before getting up and stomping over into the kitchen area. Grabbing a berry from in front of a surprised Blaze, she started slicing almost dangerously. The infernape stepped back.

"Sorry," Ticonamo said belatedly.

"Sit down," Leo suggested to his counterpart.

The swampert did so before saying, "Since Darkrai couldn't do anything and didn't intent for it to happen, I just told them at the Guild to let him go. There's nothing we can do; I think Lonny is as stuck with her new body as I was with mine…"

"Mudkip!" At once, the little Pokémon jumped out of Sally's reach to hurl himself toward him.

* * *

Leo knew he needed to talk to Chip. In fact, he was just about to address the little mudkip and start their first real conversation when said Pokémon suddenly screamed unintelligently and lunged at him. It only took a lowered arm to block the attack…with a bit of extra strength; although Chip wasn't all that big yet, his attack was more powerful than he expected.

"Mom wanted to see you!" the mudkip screamed. "If it wasn't for you, she wouldn't have been changed!" He started crying, which quickly evolved into wailing.

Ignoring the attack and the throbbing of the green pad on his forearm, he reached down to instinctively cradle him. Chip struggled at first, but soon was soon resting his head on his shoulder as the tears continued. "I'm sorry, Chip. This isn't the way I wanted to meet you." What else could he say? At least, until Chip recovered enough that he could tell him a few things. But when the mudkip did, instead of being calm, he struggled out of his embrace and ran all the way over to Christina, Blaze and Grovyle in the kitchen area.

"It's still your fault," the mudkip shouted hoarsely.

"He blames me," Leo told the humans with a sigh. "I haven't been much of a father, huh? I haven't even been around."

"It's not your fault she was changed," Sally insisted. "But why didn't you stay on Earth if you knew that Lonny was…"

"I didn't know!" he returned angrily. He couldn't help it; it was a sore point with him. But would he have stayed if he had known? If he stayed, of course Blaze would likely have stayed with him, as would probably his human self, Sally and Grovyle too. Looking around at the surprised faces around the room: "Lonny told Blaze as we were leaving, and told him not to tell _me _until after we left."

"Oh," his human self said after a long, hesitant moment.

Leo continued: "Maybe…she wanted us to go, because that's what the rest of us wanted; we wanted to come back home, and you two to start a new life." It was one of the reasons he had come up with over the last six months. It was the best reason from his point of view, and the one he hoped was true. Given how obviously she loved him, really, he shouldn't even be entertaining other reasons…though he did. Damn it, he wished he had known about their son sooner despite the difficulties that would've presented.

And maybe his son wouldn't be sitting behind his partners in the kitchen area, hating him.

"Then, she really does love you," Sally offered.

"Of course she does," Christina said from the other side of the room. "She made it fairly clear to me she wanted to come here and see you." The blonde haired young woman looked about to say something else, but looked suddenly like she was holding back tears before concentrating on some more slicing.

Eventually, the slicing was finished and everyone helped to bring the overflowing bowls to the one rough-hewn table in the room. With a certain motherly flair, Christina picked up Chip and "flew" him over to on top of the table. Sally promptly put a small plate in front of him along with a bunch of smaller slices portions of various berries.

"OK, now you have to eat, Chip," Christina told him. "You haven't eaten all day."

Leo watched as his son looked sadly down at the offering, around the table as everyone was taking their log stools (both Blaze and Grovyle able to sit on such), then finally at him.

He really wanted to tell him his mother was going to be alright. But he didn't know that. Instead (to avoid lying): "You just have to believe everything will be alright, Chip. Things often turn out better then we think they will."

"Believe him," Blaze supported with a grin.

"And eat your food or as your father, I'll take you out back and water pulse you." He was certain that was similar to some human expression from somewhere that had to do with raising kids, but said it with a smile while earning looks ranging from surprised to uncertain.

Chip growled slightly…but did start eating.

"What do you know, that worked," the human Leo said, clearly impressed.

So…he could act like a father, then. But the heart-to-heart still had to come.

* * *

Leo Hanson lit a candle in the bedroom. With the sun going down and everything getting dark, he wanted to make sure Lonny had some light if she woke during the night.

His counterpart was next to him, looking down at her form on the bed. His expression was…unreadable, as if he was still trying to comprehend, to make sense of it. Reaching a blue hand, he lightly brushed a large finger across her cheek, touching the slight bumps that used to be gills, then sighed.

Not that he wanted to bring it up, but it was something they would be forced to deal with when…if she woke up: "Do you think she'll…remember anything? You lost your memory when you were transformed."

The swampert shrugged slightly. In his slightly lower voice, "I hope not. But if she doesn't, I…" He fell slight for a moment. "It would be the second love I lost."

"Maybe Uxie might be able to help, at least a little. Like you think she did for you."

The swampert smiled a little at the mention. "Maybe. Thanks for reminding me of that."

He was glad to help in any way. He certainly felt as helpless as everyone else was otherwise.

Starting to already think of any arraignments they would have to make to accommodate Lonny's transformation (like for clothes), he turned and was just leaving the small bedroom as his counterpart mumbled something that sounded like "blue human".

* * *

With everyone else on the rug in front of the fireplace talking long after the sun set, Leo huddled with Blaze to one side, speaking in Poké language. "Remember what Kangaskhan said about the clefable? She was looking for a third human. A _blue_ one."

Blaze's blank red face turned to surprise, yellow and blue eyes wide as his tail suddenly twitched and mane puffed up. "I completely forgot! You mean…_Lonny_ is that human?"

"Certainly isn't Ticonamo or Christina." Like Blaze, he had forgot about what Kangaskhan said when Lonny had come through the portal transformed. Indeed, the only thing that'd been on his mind since was her and Chip.

"Was wondering when you would realize that," Grovyle said from where he was leaning against the wall nearby.

Blaze returned an angry look. "Why didn't you say something?"

"We had bigger issues to deal with," he replied simply.

Leo nodded agreement; it was certainly true. "So how would that clefable know this would happen?"

"Set it up to happen?" Blaze suggested.

"Then why would she be asking about it before it happened?" Grovyle replied, squashing the idea. "More like she predicted the future."

"Until this morning, no one but the people here in the room knew there was going to be a portal this morning," Leo pointed out in agreeing.

"Good point," Blaze admitted, using the purple fingers of one of his hands to reach a scratch on his white-haired back.

Continuing: "And unless Darkrai is good at lying, which of course he might be, it was an accident."

Grovyle started fingering one of his wrist blades between his two claws. "So our clefable predicting the future is the only reasonable explanation then. _That_ carries a few implications. It also brings us back to the obvious question, what is this mission she supposedly has for us?"

"Like you were saying Leo, we need to talk to that clefable," Blaze said in sitting down and running his fingers through his long red and yellow mane. "Otherwise we're getting nowhere for answers."

"Three humans and us…a mission only we can do," Leo said thoughtfully. "Or, could Ticonamo and Christina be the ones…"

"What are you talking about?"

Chip's voice startled him for an instant; only a minute ago the mudkip was sleeping next to Christina in front of the fire. Unsure how to answer: "We…"

"You were talking about mom," Chip provided. "What's going to happen to her?"

Seeing Blaze and Grovyle were leaving the answering to him, Leo lowered himself onto his stomach to be more on his son's level. "Chip, I really don't know. We'll know more when she wakes up."

"That's not good enough!" the mudkip screamed.

Letting out a huge sigh, he decided that now was probably as good of time as any for the talk he knew he need to have. "Chip, let's go outside to the garden."

Chip stared back, momentarily looking bewildered. "The garden? What does that have to do with…"

"We're going to talk, Chip," and without waiting for an answer, he scooped up the little blue and white mudfish Pokémon and carried him out into the back yard, Blaze and Grovyle knowing enough to stay behind. Yep, this would be a private talk, although he was concerned it might be too soon. But with Lonny and Christina only having until tomorrow afternoon before their thirty-six hour stay was up and they had to return, what other time would he have?

After setting Chip down on the half-log that served as a bench, he settled uneasily next to it. They were silent for a moment, Chip staring intently (angrily) at him, but eventually looked up at the star-filled sky, the only illumination coming from the firelight inside. He had thought of a lot of things to say since yesterday, but words now escaped him like a jumpluff's spore scattering in the wind. "Damn it, I've never been a father before. I have no idea what to tell you, other then I wished I could of seen you hatch and been there with you. But I'm with you now and I'm going to do everything I can to protect you and your mother."

"She _really_ can't be changed back?"

Leo heard his son's voice crack a little; he rested one hand lightly over the mudkip's back, giving his head fin a stroke. "I don't think so." He wanted to add just like himself, but wasn't certain if Chip knew he used to be human.

Chip stayed quiet for another moment, obviously struggling to keep himself from crying again. Finally in slower speech: "Mom told me what happened to you. You used to be human…and you couldn't be changed back either. She explained the time-thing to me too. There's really two of you."

He _was_ told…

"My other self is that human Leo," Leo said, tilting his head back toward the house. "It made…quite a reunion when we met for the first time. It was awkward."

"Mom also said when she met you for the first time, she had to beat you up in a battle."

"Hey, what?" Incredulously, he stared down at him, at the same time believing that that _would_ be something Lonny would tell him, even if it was true.

"You really are small," Chip continued. "I'll be bigger when I evolve. Then I can beat you up too."

Leo stared back, finding his son smiling and looking very cute with his small green gills sticking out the sides of his face. "Oh you think so, huh? You're assuming I let you _live_ long enough to evolve." He smiled back, making sure to not make it threatening. After all, his son was joking…he hoped. In any case, there was no mistaking who he was getting _those_ kind of thoughts from.

The mudkip laughed. "Mom won't let you. She'll just…" He stopped suddenly, losing all semblance of smiling. Staring down: "She can't do anything now. She's human."

"Hey, listen to me," moving his large finger under his son's chin to make him look back up at him. "Humans can do lots of things we can't," trying to provide a little optimism.

"Like what? They need Pokémon to do just about everything. That what mom says, though she said she really liked having Christina and Harry depend on her."

Really? Was that what Lonny thought about humans? He never knew… "Well, humans…me and my colleagues specifically, built that gate that got you here. No Pokémon could have done that."

"Well, you're smarter than most Pokémon…so mom also said."

"She did?"

"Because you used to be human."

Of course he had to feel a little pride in that she had said that. Obviously he wasn't going to win in the size or physical category against other swamperts…not that he was _that_ much smaller! "So, that means humans are smart, and though they don't have physical abilities like us Pokémon, they can use their brains to build incredibly complex machines that do all sorts of things."

That earned him some silence for a moment and he hoped Chip wouldn't be thinking of humans as helpless anymore and hence, not despair so much over Lonny's change.

Then: "Will she lose her memory like you did?"

So she had told him the complete story then; one less thing he would have to explain. Stroking him down his back, he sighed, wondering if he should drive home the point or not. "I don't know, Chip. But…we should be prepared that she might not remember us at all."

He debated whether to offer the slight hope Uxie might be able to provide as the mudkip fixed his eyes on him, unblinking as tears finally started welling again. Except for kricketots singing, some hooting from hoothoots around both near and far, and the occasional croak of a croagunk or toxicroak, it was quiet for the moment…until a loud (human) female scream from the house broke it.

* * *

Leo Hanson shot up, rushing ahead of everyone else into the small bedroom. There, Lonny was sitting up in bed, staring at her arms and hands, looking horrified in the faint light from the candle.

She seemed to notice him and everyone else piling in, giving a sidelong glance. "What…happened…to…me? What are _these?_" waving her light-blue arms in front of everyone while starting to hyperventilate.

Should he tell her point blank, or try and cushion the blow a little? If so, how? Wait…_she was speaking in human speech!_ A look to Sally showed her just as astonished.

His wife spoke first, as she approached to lay a hand on her bare shoulder: "Lonny, take a deep breath. _Do it._"

Lonny turned her now (almost) human face to her, then to Christina who kneeled next to Sally. Fixing her eyes on the blonde-haired woman, her breathing started to slow.

Christina then spoke: "Listen, Lonny. You know when Leo was changed into a Pokémon because he took an attack by some Pokémon called Darkrai?"

Lonny seemed frozen for a moment but eventually nodded.

Good, she remembers that, Leo thought.

"Well, the same thing happened to you while in that dimensional portal coming here. You got hit accidentally by an attack from him. Only…you became human. Almost."

In the orange candlelight of the room, the light blue-and-white-skinned human looked down at herself, including her bare chest and smallish breasts and nipples, before moving the rest of the blanket to have a look at her new legs and feet. For the longest moment, Leo couldn't tell if she was about to cry or rage, such was the conflict on her face. Finally to probe the extent of her memories: "Lonny, what do you remember? Do you remember any of us?"

Whipping her head to him: "Of course I remember all of you!" she said angrily in her slightly deep feminine voice. "And where is this Darkrai? I'm going to rip him in half!" She moved to get up and almost made it as everyone parted quickly, such was the suddenness of her movement, but she collapsed as soon as she tried standing up.

Leo caught her with Sally and Christina and together, they fought hard to get her to sit back down as she flailed her limbs mightily to get back up with incredible strength!

"Stop fighting!" Christina yelled, taking a hit to her arm.

"Let go of me, damnit! I'm going to tear apart that Darkrai!" she screamed. "Leo! Where is that damned Pokémon?"

Leo looked to the door briefly to see his swampert counterpart working his way in past Blaze and Grovyle. To his relief, his counterpart's presence seemed to have a calming effect on her, and the former swampert quickly sat unsteadily on the side of the bed, looking suddenly exhausted. Taking that as a cue, he backed up with Sally to allow his counterpart to get closer to her. Of course, now that things were calm, he couldn't help but fully notice the new human; without any clothes or hair, it was fully apparent that she had every human female feature about her… Yep, they would have to get her some clothes, soon, although her remaining swampert features were almost alien-looking in contrast.

"Where is he?" Lonny breathed. "Where is Darkrai? Make him…change me back…"

The swampert placed his hands on her shoulders, replacing Christina's grip. "It was an accident, Lonny. He didn't mean it, he was attacked by everyone else when he showed up, and his counterattack accidently hit the portal."

Her eyes widened. "That black ball…"

"A shadow ball."

"How can a shadow ball do this?" she growled back, gesturing down to herself with near disdain.

"Mom?"

Everyone turned to Chip, standing under Ticonamo in the doorway.

Lonny froze, before shedding a tear.


	3. Chapter 3: Lonny's Decision

Author's Note: Thanks to those of you who've reviewed the two previous chapters! And thanks grammaguy for pointing out the spelling error in chapter 2; it's fixed now. :)

**Chapter III: Lonny's Decision**

"You two…don't need to stay here; you should go home and get some sleep," Leo told Blaze and Grovyle, fully meaning it out of concern for his friends. Instead they looked back incredulously.

"We're staying with you," Grovyle replied, folding his green arms in a stubborn fashion.

Blaze nodded, twitching his tail. "Lonny is our friend too. We'll do whatever we can to help. Unless…you think it's better we go?"

Although his partner's manner didn't indicate it, Leo knew the question was a minefield, to borrow a human term. "No, it's just…" Sighing, he rubbed one of his gills while looking across the room to where Lonny was sitting on the floor near the stone fireplace, Chip and Christina on either side of her. His human self came out of the bedroom to wrap a small blanket around her, Sally providing some water in a clay mug. "…I don't know what to do, other than just be here with her."

"Maybe that's enough right now," Blaze replied. "Maybe she just needs familiar faces and friends around her."

Grovyle moved the few steps to the kitchen area, grabbed a yellow berry, and jumped over a startled Ticonamo on his way to Lonny. "Try this."

Lonny stared at the sitrus berry for a second before taking it in her decidedly much smaller but greater fingered hands now. "This will help?" she asked.

"Won't hurt," Grovyle replied.

Lonny sniffed it before taking a small bite, and with everyone waiting nothing seemed to happen. "Smells different; tastes different," she eventually said after a swallow.

"So she's like you now Leo," Blaze observed. "She can speak both human and Poké speech."

"Hell of a way to gain that ability," Leo retorted quietly. "Actually she can speak it better; her mouth is shaped properly for it." Then more to himself: "Human speech for a human mouth."

With the sun long since set on the horrendous day, his human self and Sally eventually retired to their bedroom after Lonny insisted on staying near the fire. A few blankets and other cloths on the floor made for a kind of bed for her against the night's chill, and he made sure to cover her as her remaining exhaustion overtook her before long. Laying next to her, Chip settled in just as close, Christina also nearby. Near an outside wall, Ticonamo laid out his large sleeping bag fully unzipped and seemed to drift off with some difficulty, Grovyle and Blaze taking some advantage of the oversized bag and making for a crowded bed for the poor human.

Leo spared a private grin at the sight. Otherwise, it was a fitful night…at least for him. His love that he'd hoped for months he would see again was finally laying beside him, only not as a swampert. The human was breathing deeply, her chest rising and falling slowly, almost imperceptibly. Moving his now relatively large arm carefully so as not to disturb her, he slowly stroked what remained of her head fins. His poor Lonny.

He uniquely knew how hard such a transformation was, yet he at least had the 'benefit' of having lost his memory in the process, sparing him the jarring realization of everything he no longer was (for a few years, anyway). Lonny seemed to retain everything and thus had to face the entirely of her change immediately.

With her proud personality, this was going to be doubly hard for her. As a swampert, she physically always had the upper hand over him as well as most others. Now…he would have to protect her for the same reason he never allowed either his human self or Sally to go on missions with him, Blaze and Grovyle. With their abilities, even relatively weak Pokémon had the capacity to seriously injure or even kill humans. Most humans just weren't as strong or durable. Certainly they didn't heal as fast. And Lonny was female… With Pokémon, it made little difference as to strength, but in humans…

Though she at least looked stronger than Christina. Maybe something of her former body influenced her new form in more than looks?

Fortunately she would be returning to Earth with Christina and Ticonamo in the afternoon; he didn't need to protect her for more than a few hours. And Treasure Town was a fairly safe place for humans in any case, with all the town's and Guild's Pokémon willing to come to their aid at a moment's notice. Many of the exploration teams that happened to be around would likely do the same!

So they would be leaving. Perhaps…he should return with them…

…but this planet was his home, and he'd already spent a year on Earth.

To be really selfish, he actually hoped Lonny and Chip would stay with him instead. Well, as soon as everyone was certain travel using the dimensional gate could be relied on, he would make regular visits and no doubt so would Lonny.

He closed his eyes on the room with the slowly dying fire, falling into a light slumber. Only once did he have to get up, Lonny needing to relive herself. With unfamiliar legs, he needed to help her walk into the backyard and the waiting outhouse. At least the small shed was accommodating for large Pokémon in addition to humans; his human self and Sally made a smart design choice on that point.

Then morning felt like it came all too soon.

* * *

Leo Hanson quietly stepped around their sleeping visitors on his way out the back and the waiting outhouse. Almost at the door, he heard it occupied, his counterpart coming out a moment later. "How was your night?"

The swampert yawned, looking just a little peeked with his eyelids which were normally embedded at the base of his head fins a little puffy and heavy. "If I could toss and turn, I would have been tossing and turning."

"Oh. How did Lonny sleep?" He needed to go pretty badly, but he also wanted to have at least a few words with his Pokémon form in private before everyone else woke up since the opportunity presented itself.

"Like a baby mudkip. So did Chip."

"Good." They stood staring at the ground for a moment, he wondering a number of things but not willing to voice any of them. Like asking if his counterpart was going to go back to Earth with Lonny in light of what happened, which was a thought that crossed his mind during the night. Although he had pushed it off to get some sleep, it was again one of the first things on his mind at first light (along with the toilet and how Lonny was doing). "Um, Sally will see if any of her clothes will fit, so she doesn't show up on Earth naked."

"Thanks," the blue and white skinned Pokémon replied before heading back into the house.

Everyone was up quickly, and with the fresh eggs Ticonamo had brought with him from Earth, the house was soon smelling quite good as breakfast was prepared along with the usual fruit and berries. It was also somewhat gratifying to have all the places at the table filled for once, the current situation notwithstanding. Himself, Sally, his swampert counterpart, Blaze, Grovyle, Christina, Ticonamo and Lonny, with Chip on the table between her and the swampert basically made for a full setting. In addition to just providing general working area, he was doubly glad they made their table as large as they did, even though it did take up a lot of the limited interior space.

As cheerful as the reunion should have been, all conversation was subdued; Lonny in particular was saying nothing. Although she still had the blanket mostly wrapped around her, her breasts were mostly exposed. If he had been still single he certainly wouldn't be minding, but being married it was getting distracting, though he tried hard not to notice. Sitting across from Lonny, Ticonamo wasn't pretending as hard. Sure, if she was going to stay with them, they'd all get used to it and wouldn't pay much attention after a while, but she wasn't.

Christina shot Ticonamo a look and the Asian sheepishly grinned briefly, but replaced his expression with concern in glancing yet again at the former swampert. He then suddenly decided to clean his glasses with his napkin, almost hiding a sigh.

In any case, Lonny didn't seem to take any notice and next to her, his counterpart seemed at a loss of what to do.

Getting up, Christina moved behind her, wrapping her arms around her former Pokémon and resting her head gently on top of hers. "It'll be all right my friend," speaking soothingly before giving her neck and shoulders a rub. "It just…doesn't look like it right now, but we'll get through this together."

Lonny still didn't say anything or even react much, even when Christina pulled the blanket up more around her.

Ticonamo looked as if to say something, but seemed to grimace in looking down at his bowl instead.

What else was there to say that wasn't already said? One thing he could say was she actually had a nice, shapely body, very similar in height and build to Christina, though a bit more muscular.

He wondered: could that be because…

Christina said the shadow ball grazed her before hitting Lonny. Did that somehow influence Lonny's transformation? If some of Christina's DNA was transferred by that... Still, how could a shadow ball cause such a transformation in the first place? Like with his swampert counterpart, the only explanation was there had to be an interaction between Pokémon energy attacks and dimensional/time portals. Which would mean there was a whole other aspect to such portals they didn't know about…

That explanation just felt lacking, but he just didn't have anything better.

Back to the current situation, although Lonny had eaten this morning, she kept looking at her hands as if still in shock, flexing her new fingers and thumbs open and close. Eventually she reached for her cup of water only to knock it over instead, sending water spilling across the table and over the edge toward her…

"Arrg!" Her light blue and green face contorting in anger, she tried hurriedly getting up but tripped. In trying to catch her, both Christina and his swampert counterpart ended up grabbing only blanket as Lonny landed on the floor. Screaming, she eventually got herself free from the tangling blanket and then finally up on her two legs, growled in running for the back door, falling again before reaching it.

Christina and the swampert rushed to her side, only for her to fight them off with kicks and punches. "Leave me alone!" screaming as she flung open the door and walked unsteadily into the back yard. And when they tried to follow: "Just leave me!" screaming at the top of her lungs, face wet with tears.

Leo sighed, lowering his head to look down at his half-empty plate. The eggs didn't look as good…

"If only we had more time," Sally said from beside him.

He nodded agreement. Glancing around the table, both Blaze and Grovyle were still staring at the scene, faces of stone. And Chip…seemed to be concentrating fully on his bowl, half hiding a very worried and sad expression.

* * *

Leo felt beside himself, unsure whether to follow or not and looked to Christina for some kind of lead. She'd been Lonny's trainer for a long time and had the closest relationship of any of them. As a friend, anyway.

The blonde-haired human remained at the door, watching as Lonny ran unsteadily to one of the half-log benches at the far end of the mostly fenced back yard, behind most of the garden and half-hidden from view.

He sighed, tempted to hit one of the wall beams with a fist. It wasn't fair; she wasn't deserving of this. And knowing how proud she was in her abilities as a Pokémon, he could now see there was no crueler fate for her than to lose what she was.

"Give her a few minutes, then you should go to her," Christina said quietly.

He looked up at the human questioningly. "Maybe you should…"

"You two love each other, right?" cutting him off before pointing at his forehead. "She came to see _you!_ And you used to be human; you went through this transformation yourself. You are by far the most qualified of any of us to comfort her right now. Please…_try_."

Well, that made some sense. He just wished he could offer at least a glimmer of hope her transformation could be undone that wasn't false hope. Other than trying to repeat the accident and hope for the best, that was…which might only serve to finish the transformation anyway.

Too bad they didn't have the ability to create a time portal instead of a dimensional one… It seemed a logical conclusion that a time portal could make a human into a Pokémon and a dimensional portal doing the opposite, when combined with a Darkrai-special attack. Then again, there was just something about that that felt…like there was a missing element. It just couldn't be that simple…

He shook his head at his drifting thoughts, focusing back on what to tell Lonny.

Oh…hell. He'd just have to think of something on the way out there…

...or could that clefable know something?

In touching the door to go out, he instead paused, turning around a second later. Blaze and Grovyle were still watching from the table, both looking concerned. After approaching them: "Would the two of you find Wigglytuff and ask him if he knows anything about that clefable? Specifically about how she knew about Lonny."

Blaze raised his heavy red brow ridge, his mane puffing slightly. "Oh! You thinking maybe she might…"

Leo nodded. "I'm hoping she might know of some way to reverse what happened, since she predicted this."

The infernape quickly jumped up, "Right!"

"We'll hope he knows something," Grovyle added in rushing to catch up with Blaze. "Slow down, Blaze!"

Leo no sooner started turning back around for the rear door when there was a knock from the front one.

Sally moved past a now waiting Blaze and Grovyle and in another moment: "Oh, Wigglytuff! Kangason. Ah, come in."

With some surprise, Leo waited for the pink and white Guild master to walk around the wall separating the main living area from the front door, Kangason in tow.

"Hello, hello!" the frequently playful but quite intelligent Pokémon greeted in sing-song. "See who I found on the way here," indicating the green Kangason. "Said he was coming over to weed the garden."

Leo translated before returning the greeting with everyone else.

"We were just coming to find you," Blaze said.

"Yes," Grovyle added, shaking his one wrist.

"Oh? Then a good thing I came." Looking around at everyone briefly, his eyes focused on the table. Slowly, he waddled over.

"Help yourself, Guildmaster," Leo's human self told him.

Wigglytuff didn't need to be offered twice, giving a "Thanks" before quickly downing a whole bowlful of berries and fruit. Then patting the back of Chip who was still on the table: "Hello little mudkip. You look just like Leo used to."

"That's my son Chip," Leo replied. Wigglytuff certainly saw him when he first arrived, but in the confusion and panic after Lonny arrived, there really hadn't been any time for formal introductions. Now, he wanted to ask about the clefable, but had to first ask why he came over. Only Sally beat him to it.

"Just to see how Lonny is doing," the Guildmaster answered.

Leo again translated to the humans before answering in human speak. "She's having a difficult time. She remembers everything and…doesn't want to be human."

"I see, I see," Wigglytuff said thoughtfully, nodding with almost his entire somewhat egg-shaped body before downing another berry. "Understandable and not surprising, Leo. You had some difficultly too, and you remembered nothing."

That was most definitely true, though most of his difficulty came from having a blank slate for memories yet knowing what he used to be, if not really who or anything else about. Still, he never really knew what it was he lost…until he returned to Earth. And even then, he also knew what he had gained by that time.

The Guildmaster seemed to want to say something else, but paused for the longest moment. Leo thought he might be falling into one of his famous standing-sleeps before the Pokémon continued: "This morning I sent the guild members to look for that clefable who was in town two days ago."

"You…_did_?" Leo returned, surprised. "You know about…"

"Of course I know! Well, after the commotion yesterday, Kangaskhan was upset and came to me. She told me about the clefable and who she was looking for. Seems the clefable was a day too early; we have our blue human now." Then after looking around: "Hmm…where is our blue human?"

Since the conversation was in Poké speech, both Sally and his human self were occupying themselves with Kangason in offering him some picked-yesterday veggies. Kangason waved them off, replying with he had plenty for breakfast already. Naturally, the humans didn't know what he said and started to assume he didn't like them…

Leo pointed out back. Since he was just going out there anyway…

Wigglytuff followed him into the back yard and around the garden to the rough-split logs that made the back fence, where Lonny was still sitting on the log bench and shivering, legs drawn up, and her face anything but happy. Although she noticed them coming with slight sideways glance, she made no other real gesture.

As they reached her, he made sure to put himself between her and Wigglytuff, if just for a moment. After all, she was still naked. "Lonny, this is Wigglytuff, the Guildmaster I told you about a few times."

"Hello pretty Lonny," Wigglytuff greeted in sing-song with a quick wave.

"I'm _not_ pretty," she retorted with almost a snort. "I saw myself in their mirror; I'm a freak now. And I bet you came to tell me you also don't know any way to reverse this."

Short and to the point. In a way it was nice to know her personality hadn't changed. Neither had the color of her eyes, now that he noticed.

"Well…" The Guildmaster regarded her before looking to Leo.

He shrugged. He really didn't know what the Guildmaster wanted other than to just say 'Hi'.

The pink and white Pokémon sighed, scratching a part of his belly as he took on a slightly sad expression. "Funny thing; was just thinking. It was about four years ago now when a unfamiliar mudkip and chimchar appeared in front of me. They wanted to join my guild. That wasn't all that surprising…after all, I have the best exploration guild there is!" He laughed. "But then the mudkip said something that did surprise me. He claimed he used to be human. I, of course, didn't believe him, but as time went on, I started to. And when I realized it was indeed a fact, you know what my first thought was?"

Leo looked with Lonny also in wondering. This was an insight the Guildmaster had never shared with him before.

"I thought: 'Amazing!'," throwing his arms up as he shouted the word. "How unusual, and how unique, for someone to be given a completely new body! But not like evolution. To cross the boundary between one of those mythical humans and a Pokémon, I think the correct term is 'miracle'."

Lonny continued staring at him, but frowning. "Or curse," she retorted. "Wigglytuff, thanks for trying to make me feel better, but I used to be a swampert. A very strong one. Now look at me," raising her arms and gesturing to herself. Snorting: "At least I still have somewhat blue skin. But what am I supposed to _do_ with this body? It's useless! I lost my real body, _damnit!_ I lost everything that was me!"

Leo started to say about human body having some unique abilities of its own, but she cut him off.

"You were given a mudkip's body, Leo," pointing out sharply. "You gained something; I _lost_ something!"

Both of them faced Wigglytuff as he started humming and slowly moving himself from side to side. After they had been watching for a moment: "Oh, oh…all's not well…ll," he inflected in sing-song. "But Lonny dear, I think you'll do just fine as a human. Since Leo's human self showed up along with that Sally female, I've learned a _lot_ about humans. One of those is humans do some amazing things that Pokémon have never imagined. You've lived with humans on their planet, you must know that better than I, but perhaps forgot?"

Leo put his hand to Lonny's shoulder as she sighed heavily, drawing her legs up onto the bench again.

"You don't understand…" she replied softly.

Wigglytuff twitched an ear, "You still have your memories…your friends…your mate…"

The mostly human female kept staring at the ground, except for a questioning stare up to Leo.

"…and you have a son?"

She looked up at the Guildmaster's sudden question.

Wigglytuff finally stopped his rocking, taking on a slightly sadder expression. "Feeling sorry for one's self is very natural when you think you lost something important. I think I would be, and adjusting to change takes time. But you have that cute mudkip. And all offspring need their mother. And their father."

Lonny's lower lip was trembling as she started shivering even more. Leo drew close to her, not just to help her get warm, but also for comfort. He just couldn't imagine how all this was hitting her, and yet have to think about Chip still.

She held out an arm, staring at it as she rotated it. Finally: "You…you're right," she admitted. "I have to think more about him."

Leo moved away, holding out his hand. "Let's go back in and check up on the little mudfish. And Sally was saying something earlier about seeing if she had any clothes that would fit you."

Although Lonny had started to move, she froze again (except for her shivering). "Clothes? What do I need those for? Humans just wear those for decoration and impressing others, don't they, and aren't I still a little Pokémon yet?"

Leo stared back, though noticed out of the corner of his eye Wigglytuff looking on with seeming interest. Did Lonny really not realize, or did she just think it all too stupid to be embarrassed about? Of course as Pokémon none of them wore clothes, but then again for most species, there really wasn't much to cover up either. "Well…for one, you won't be so cold. And two…" If it wasn't for that blue skin of his… After a sheepish glance to Wigglytuff, "…there's…uh…one…_aspect_ about human bodies that's much more prominent than with Pokémon, Lonny, which causes some embarrassment…"

* * *

With his claws, Kangason spread his face in front of Chip while sticking out his tongue and making childish noises, obviously hoping to cheer the mudkip up. It half worked as the blue and white mudfish looked to be fighting a smile.

"Of course after this episode, I'm not sure they'll ever let us come back," Ticonamo continued, rubbing his now two-day old black beard. "The committee knows Leo's, I mean the swampert's, history about being turned into a Pokémon, but now with Lonny…" Shaking his head, he gave a glance behind him to the rear wall. "Damn, guys, they'll going to say it's a little too dangerous if one likes keeping their own body, if you know what I mean."

Leo Hanson wanted to, but he couldn't disagree; he also was fearing the portal between the worlds would never be opened again. But he was too distracted by what was going on with Lonny and his counterpart in the back yard to say anything at the moment. He really hoped she was going to be alright, along with his counterpart…for multiple reasons now.

Blaze whispered something to Grovyle, the latter letting out a sigh before resting his slender chin on the table.

Slamming her fist on the hard wood top, Christina unintentionally caused the gecko-like Pokémon to jump. "Hey, we forced them to allow us to come here once already! If those suits won't allow it, then call me up so I can have Lonny…" Stares, and the blonde froze for a moment. "Uh, you know, the Pokémon League finally gave custody of those two charizards to Chris last month. I'm sure he'll let me borrow one of them, or both." As she said that, a new determined look came across her face.

Ticonamo half grinned in pushing up his thick glasses, "Yeah, _that'll_ cause the committee to add a little extra security all right. And you didn't really force them to open the portal, Christina. They were already allowing me to come to check on things for possible future exploration. You only convinced them to let you tag along." More quietly: "With a little arm twisting…_literally_."

The back door suddenly swung open and Leo watched his counterpart lead Lonny and (a slightly red-faced and dead-pan) Wigglytuff inside as the room fell silent. The swampert gave him a calm look as Lonny walked over to Sally, giving Chip a quick, playful squeeze on his head fin on the way.

"My mate said you have some…clothes I could wear."

Such was her voice: calm, even toned and not angry or with hint of depression, that Leo breathed a mental sigh of relief, as did seemingly everyone else. Well, except for Ticonamo; he looked somewhat disappointed all-of-the-sudden.

"You know, I think I do have something for you," Sally replied with a smile, getting up to lead her into the bedroom, Christina also following.

Ticonamo watched them for the entire ten paces… "Even blue, she's darned pretty," after the door was shut.

"She is," Leo admitted, noticing his counterpart fixing his gaze on him. Chip said something to get his attention though.

"Yes Chip, humans _can_ be pretty like Pokémon," the swampert replied, before reverting into Poké speak to converse with the other Pokémon.

Chip also started to act like things were getting better, something that was proved when Sally, Christina and Lonny emerged from the bedroom perhaps a good twenty minutes later after Wigglytuff left.

Leo let out a low whistle along with Ticonamo. It wasn't anything fancy, but the loose fitting white dress looked fairly good on her, even accenting her light blue skin and the green patches on her cheeks, forearms and lower legs. A quick glance to the side showed all the Pokémon giving her a good looking over too.

Blaze was the first of them to say anything, to which Lonny replied in the same speech.

"I agree," the one remaining swampert said in human language. "You do look very pretty."

For the next hour as the sun rose steadily in the sky, all of them did their best to make Lonny more comfortable, even getting her to help wash the breakfast bowls as practice for using her new human hands as well as for something to do. For other duties, Leo got Kangason started on the garden, watered a few plants from the well and picked a few of the ripe tomatoes before coming back inside. Judging from the hundreds of green ones still on all the vines, it was going to be a bumper crop; plenty for the town's Pokémon.

"Just don't get those confused with tamato berries," Sally warned while making an effort to splash some water on Chip from her dripping hands, to which the little mudkip chirped happily.

"Right," Leo replying, remembering the one tamato bush that somehow took root amid the tomatoes. Ever since then, they always had the fear that somehow a tamato would still get mixed in…

With breakfast cleaned up, everything stored and Kangason having the little weeding nearly finished already…there was nothing to do. Which was something that Ticonamo voiced.

"We still have about six hours until they open the portal. So…"

"I think we should do something…fun," Christina said, before she started forming a slow smile in staring at the Asian researcher. "Something that'll cheer us up. So you know what? It's time."

Ticonamo stared back for a moment as Christina tilted her head toward the kitchen area. "Oh…right, that's a great idea. I agree, it _is_ time. Um, so long as…" He glanced to Lonny, who noticed and stared back. After she smiled weakly, Ticonamo and Christina turned to the kitchen area and Chip, who was on the floor there and now suddenly alert.

Leo found Sally, his counterpart, Blaze and Grovyle all having the same questioning expressions. To Ticonamo: "So what's it time for?"

Ticonamo chuckled with a spreading smile before clearing his throat. "Well, after you guys left, Christina, Lonny and Chip made some visits to the lab to, you know, just see how things were going and visit. And to find out when they could come and visit, of course. Drove security nuts but hey, they already knew about the project. Anyway, there were days when work was going kind of slow, so we came up with this game."

"So to speak," Christina added.

"It's fun and highly entertaining, and even the Pokémon involved thinks so…_eventually_," Ticonamo continued with a smirk and a smile to Lonny.

Leo found himself unable to tell if they were joking or not. Lonny seemed thoroughly unconcerned, though, about whatever it was.

"Besides, all of us could really use the distraction right now I think," Christina added.

Blaze asked something, cocking his head while Grovyle continued observing, looking quite curious with his head leaf seemingly perked at attention.

"So…it's time to play that game?" Sally asked, brow furrowed.

Christina swung back around on her log chair toward the kitchen again. "_I_ think so."

Chip was backing up, his black eyes wide…

"Undoubtedly, undeniably, most _definitely_ it _is_ time," Ticonamo furthered as his voice became a lower, more sinister sounding tone, and his smile widening while also turning to Chip.

Leo felt his curiosity (and guard) doubling as the two adopted more predatory-type poses, leaning forward in their chairs and stretching their arms out and ahead, Chip looking more and more uncomfortable. In fact, as the dual slowly got up in unison and started approaching in a stalking manner, the mudkip's face quickly became one of abject terror.

"What are you guys going to _do_ to him?" Sally asked, her voice higher pitched than usual.

"It's…GET THE MUDKIP TIME!" they shouted, lunging forward in an instant.

"KIP!" Chip screamed in his high-pitched voice as he jumped and started running like his life depended on it. "KIP! KIP! KIP!"

* * *

"HELP! HELP! HELP!"

Leo's heart jumped watching Christina and Ticonamo start chasing Chip, _his son_, around the room. Being small, Chip had an advantage in running under things the larger humans couldn't readily get to (without lifting up said object). But that only delayed them for a few seconds before the chase was on again.

"HELP!"

The only thing keeping him from intervening during the first few seconds was one, he knew both Cristina and Ticonamo and couldn't believe they would hurt anyone, _especially_ Chip, and two (more importantly), Lonny was making no moves whatsoever to save him. In fact, she moved her legs so as to not be in the way! "What's going on?" he finally demanded, preparing to move to save the mudfish as Blaze and Grovyle were tensing. His human self and Sally looked only slightly less alarmed.

At first Lonny seemed lost in thought. Then: "He's fine. He needs the play and love."

_Love? _

Chip became cornered, but as only a small Pokémon could do, he shot past the two humans right between their swooping arms. Thing was…the humans didn't seem to be trying all that hard to grab him…

Alright, so maybe they _were_ playing, but one look at Chip as he went streaking between his legs said his poor son wanted nothing to do with this!

"Getthemudkip…getthemudkip…look out!" Christina screamed (or rather laughed), as she nearly collided with him and one of his spiky green gills, Ticonamo more deftly snaking around them on the way to the other side of the room where Chip was cowering under a small corner table.

Making the initial move to go and help, Lonny quickly grabbed his arm, turning him partway around instead. "Show me the town. Treasure Town. You told me a lot about it, but I want to see it."

He looked between her and the newly cornered Chip. "_Now?_"

Lonny glanced at the corner, still seemingly without concern. "Oh, this is almost over."

Right then, the humans were reaching under the table from both directions; after several quick movements and banging the table around in the process, they successfully pulled out one panting, resigned-looking blue and white mudkip.

"We got the mudkip!" they announced in unison.

"Help…!" Chip mouthed.

That was all he could get out before Christina took him in a tight embrace, giving him kisses all over his face. "Oh…I got a muuuudkip, a whittle baaaabbbby mudkip! Ooooo, aren't you soooo _cute?_" More kisses…

Chip had his eyes firmly shut while struggling mightily…to no avail.

"So cute, so little, such a cutie pie!" Turning him upside down, she held him between one arm and her chest while starting to tickle with her free hand. "Tickle tickle tickle!"

Ticonamo joined in on the petting and tickling despite Chip's little flailing legs, also managing to give the squirming Pokémon some kisses before taking him into his own arms to continue the cuddling assault. "I just _love_ baby Pokémon!" he announced, swinging Chip upside down in his arms in exaggerated movements.

"You know, that almost looks like fun," Blaze remarked with a grin. "Like something my mother used to do before I was kicked out."

"Humans can be _overly_ affectionate sometimes," Grovyle said.

"Still looks fun." Then with a glance at Leo, the infernape stepped forward. "Alright, my turn!"

Lonny translated to the humans while Leo could only watch with sympathy for his son. Well, half sympathy. Full sympathy came as his human self and Sally got in line. Still, he was being shown a lot of love, which was good. Something he should be doing too…

"Don't worry, he loves it," Lonny said with a smile, taking the leading edge of his rear fin in her one hand, stroking it gently. "Just not all the kissing…but we're working on him."

It wasn't long before Chip was being tossed gently into the air and caught on the way down by everyone. Just as his mate had said, the mudkip was now suddenly smiling and chirping excitedly.

* * *

Leo Hanson walked with Sally, following Blaze, Grovyle, Lonny and his swampert counterpart (with Chip planted on his head) through Treasure Town. It was a warm cloudless day, with the sun high overhead barely into the afternoon. Since Lonny wanted a tour of town, his counterpart was giving her such, with everyone else along to help. Besides, Ticonamo really didn't have much of one either, and Christina only a quick rush through the previous day.

Speaking mostly in human speech, his counterpart explained things so everyone could understand, like when they were passing Electivire's shop.

"So, he can help you use your energy more effectively?" Lonny asked, standing in front of the single counter of the yellow and black painted electivire head-shaped building, looking over what little there was in the form of a few hand-drawn advertising posters.

The swampert nodded. "For a fee, and it takes practice. During some of our missions, learning some of those techniques really helped."

Blaze piped up with something, leading Lonny to laugh.

At that, a large yellow Pokémon with black stripes, clearly as tall as a human but larger, stepped from around the back wall to appear at the counter, exclaiming something in a semi-gruff voice…clearly with surprise.

"This is Lonny," the swampert introduced. "I think you saw her yesterday."

Electivire nodded while looking the former swampert over. "Elec…rawna grrota?"

"She is."

The electric-type gave her one more up and down look before aiming a grin and wink at her. "Reeeena viresha lectrec vire!"

"Uh, thanks," Lonny replied, smiling weakly.

"How much you want to bet he just said something about either how beautiful she was, or how hot she looked?" Sally asked, leaning close to both him and Christina.

"No bet," Leo replied. Through translations by his counterpart over the past months, he learned this electivire "appreciated" females of multiple species. Although "liking" different species was actually quite typical of Pokémon in general, he just didn't think that would extend to humans, since Sally seemed to be exempted from his notice ever since they arrived…which could have been because she was married? Of course Lonny was a special case, still having features of her former swampert body.

None of this was to say Electivire wasn't a nice Pokémon; he'd helped a lot during the construction of their house and was willing to help anyone in need and more than earned their trust. He was just slightly more open about approaching the opposite gender was all.

Come to think, that was more or less how his counterpart described Lonny on one or two occasions…

…which might have meant if Lonny and this electivire had met first, they probably would've hit it off such that sparks would've flown… He smirked enough to get a "What?" from Sally, who cuffed him (gently) after he told her…although she was smirking too!

Moving on, his counterpart patiently introduced the town's other inhabitants as they walked from one building to another, the Kecleon brothers even giving Lonny a small shiny bobble as a gift. "A pretty item to a pretty lady," was the translation.

For the entire time, Christina was suitably fascinated at the infrastructure the Pokémon on the world had build up all on their own, while Ticonamo busily snapped pictures and recorded movies with his small digital camera, hoping to show everything to those back on Earth what an interesting planet it was. But Lonny seemed distracted, like something was weighing on her mind. Well of course, Leo mentally chided himself. Just a few hours before this time yesterday, she was a swampert!

Still, she seemed to grow increasingly distant, even totally ignoring one of the visiting explorer teams that had just arrived in town when they made a small commotion upon noticing her.

After stopping for a quick lunch in Spinda's Café of berries, which made him long for some of the precious canned meat Ticonamo brought, they went on a quick tour of the Guild where she met all the Guild's Pokémon properly.

Ticonamo and Christina were again thoroughly impressed, and the Pokémon there even liked having their photos taken…especially since they could see how they looked on the small LCD screen immediately after!

"So this was the room where you spent your time as a trainee?" Lonny asked on reaching the former bedroom of his counterpart and Blaze.

"Mud mud?" Chip said, jumping down off the swampert's head to examine one of the two old and rather dusty looking straw beds.

"That…was a while ago now," the swampert replied, Blaze adding something.

Leo thought back to when he first met his counterpart and some of the adventures he said he had with Blaze and the other Grovyle. It wasn't the first time he almost wished he could of shared a few of those adventures…

Climbing onto one of the beds, Chip turned to look back up at them, smiling.

* * *

"Ha ha, he looks just like you when we first arrived here, Leo," Blaze said softly, raising a hand from his white chest to the top of his head fins, "before you grew up."

Leo sighed, smiling slightly in thinking back to those times. "Hard to believe we were ever that small."

The infernape patted his back, "We had some good times here. But we worked hard, too."

Leo watched Lonny kneeling down in front of them, somewhat unsteadily before he steadied her with an arm. Once on her knees, she called Chip over to stroke him around his one head fin. "You having fun, Chip?"

"Yes! This place is neat!" To Leo and still somewhat wide-eyed: "You used to really _live_ here?"

"Me and Blaze both did, for about a year," Leo answered.

"Wow!"

"But back then, I was still a mudkip just like you, and Blaze was a chimchar."

As they were walking back out into the main room, Chatot intercepted them, appearing for the first time in landing to the side. "Giving a tour, are we?"

"Lonny wanted to see where we used to live," Leo answered.

The multicolored bird made an exaggerated up and down look-over of Lonny, opening his beak for a moment before shutting it.

Leo wanted to ask the Guild's second-in-charge something, like if any of the Guild had found that clefable yet, but not in front of Lonny. That was news he didn't want her to know…until they knew more, that was. Until then, all they had was bare speculation, which would do nobody any good.

It seemed Chatot understood, giving a glare to Loudred who came trudging down the ladder and approached, mouth open and about to say something before catching sight of Chatot and promptly shutting it again.

"I did, so did our son," Lonny replied to the bird.

"He's cute, just like you were Leo," Chatot replied.

"What a funny Pokémon," Chip blurted, cocking his head. "What are you?"

"As well as lacking tact," the bird added, folding his wings across his chest.

"What, I'm not cute anymore?" Leo said, intending to give the Pokémon a little grief. He smiled as the bird slowly shook his head.

"'Cute' wouldn't be the best description anymore," Chatot answered, quickly adding a "chaw" that indicated humor.

"Well, we should probably gather our stuff and get ready," Ticonamo said in looking at his watch. "Less than an hour."

With several flaps of his wings, Chatot floated up. "Very nice to have you here," he said, a couple of the words human.

"You really can do some human speech," Christina exclaimed after Leo translated. "But thank you for allowing the tour."

Ticonamo also thanked the bird.

"All of you are welcome here any time," Chatot replied. "Even you, Chip."

Chip stuck his tongue out, but smiled before trotting just ahead of Grovyle, making Chatot chaw again.

No doubt most of the Guild would be in town to see them off, so a big goodbye wasn't necessary yet. But as they left the underground structure, Leo noticed Lonny was smiling to Chip and acting…different somehow…or at least no longer distracted. She also seemed a little happier; on the walk home, she put an arm around his neck, rubbing his smooth blue skin and obviously wanting to be closer.

Parting was going to be hard; he really wished she and Chip would stay. And he especially worried about Lonny: how was she going cope as a human? At least…she would be around plenty of friends to help her.

* * *

Leo Hanson walked beside Sally, the two of them leading the others to the place where the portal would open (approximately). Many of Treasure Town's Pokémon were already there, as were the Guild's members. He intended to say something in greeting, but no sooner had they arrived in the center of town then portal was already opening.

Great, instead of a leisurely goodbye, they would have to rush now!

"_Got_ to get our times synced better," Ticonamo said mostly under his breath after a quick glance at his watch. Immediately his small clip-on radio came to life and he became busy with a report to George on the other end of the portal.

"So, I guess this is it, _for now_," Christina said to everyone else.

With outstretched arms, she hugged him and Sally before going down the line to his blue finned counterpart, Blaze and Grovyle.

"It was nice having you," Sally returned. "I _really_ hope you can return soon."

"So do I," the young blonde woman replied, hope clearly evident. "With any luck, we won't need Chris's charizards to make our case to that oversight committee."

Ticonamo soon finished on the radio and made his round of goodbyes as well. "Don't worry: George, Naomi and I can still make a very good case for coming back…despite everything," glancing behind him to Lonny.

"I hope so," Leo returned. "If we behave ourselves, the Pokémon here would welcome humans."

The former colleague nodded before turning about, grabbing his one small personal bag and giving a wave to all the Pokémon present. They all cheered as he moved toward the portal, Christina following and likewise giving a wave.

"Thank you everyone! Take care!"

Leo again wished they could stay longer. Being the only two humans on the Poké world, he frequently felt like they were marooned in a foreign land somewhere, especially with only one Pokémon around able to speak the human language. For not the first time, he mentally cursed the oversight committee, although he understood why it was felt it was necessary to seriously restrict the dimensional gate's usage.

He watched Christina follow Ticonamo for several paces toward the waiting dimensional portal…before turning around and stopping. Something was wrong…Lonny wasn't moving and neither was Chip, snuggled in her arms.

With tearing face, Lonny spoke before anyone else could: "Christina, I'm staying."


	4. Chapter 4: Of Ancient Clues

_Thanks Dark Flygon Naxi, Tsukarete, heartofdarkness, grammaguy, and WereDragon EX for the reviews of the first three chapters!_

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* * *

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**Chapter IV: Of Ancient Clues…**

All other Pokémon fell silent as Leo thought he heard wrong as his heart started pounding, until she faced him.

"I'm staying with you, by my mate and Chip with his father."

"We're not going back?" Chip asked from her arms with a much surprised expression.

Behind her, Christina was staring wide-eyed. "But…I thought you just wanted to…"

Lonny moved to stand in front of her. "Now that I can speak in human… I was thinking of staying here before we came. But since I was changed, I made the decision. If there's a chance I can be changed back, it's here."

Even fifteen feet away, Leo could see Christina beginning to tear up. He very nearly couldn't believe what Lonny was doing, feeling both happiness that she had decided to stay, and sadness for the blonde-haired woman who had been her nearly life-time friend.

"Surely back on Earth, we can find some way…" Christina said in a pleading tone.

"There's also Chip," Lonny continued. "He should have his father around, and it wouldn't be fair to Leo either to keep them apart. I know many Pokémon don't require parents around, but maybe being around humans so much has rubbed off on me." She smiled, getting Christina to do likewise if weakly. "I want him to have his dad, and I want him too."

Behind both of them at the threshold of the portal, Ticonamo was watching silently, mouth slightly open and seemingly not sure what to do.

"I…uh, see." Christina was now tearing badly as was Lonny. "We…we've been together for…so many…years…"

Lonny nodded. "You aren't just my trainer, but my best friend and I love you. I'm…sorry I wasn't able to tell you before now. I…just didn't know…what…I was going to do…"

Christina dropped her bag and embraced Lonny as she let Chip jump down, openly weeping. "I don't know what I'm going to do without you; I've always had you with me since I was little!"

They hugged for several moments until the crying subsided at least a little and Ticonamo walked back over. Picking up Christina's bag, "Um, we have to go Christina," he said somberly. "They can't safely keep the portal open much longer."

"Promise you'll come back as soon as you can," Lonny finally said after releasing her former trainer.

Christina seemingly wanted to say something as she backed up, but only managed a nod. Then as Ticonamo placed a hand on her shoulder to help her through the portal, she turned her head, "I will come back. That's a promise!"

"Lonny, take good care of yourself and Chip…and Leo, both of them," Ticonamo said before he and Christina faded into the grayish event horizon, the portal itself fading and closing only seconds later.

Nobody moved for a moment, the only sound being the light, cool wind rustling nearby trees and building cloth, and the distant surf from the beach below the distant cliff.

Lonny finally turned around, sniffling. Her face, being a lighter blue and green than when she was a swampert, showed some slight redness along with the wetness of tears.

Chip was the first to speak though. Looking up from the ground, "Will they come back?"

"Of course they will," Lonny answered quickly, somewhat higher pitched than even her now human normal voice. "Just don't know when, honey." Then putting on a smile, she turned to Leo: "Well, you're stuck with us now, mate!" And she laughed, as did many of the surrounding Pokémon.

"I think we need another bed…she and Chip are going to live with us, right?" Blaze asked, his red face still in shock and tail unmoving. "I mean, being your mate and…"

"I'd recommend separate sleeping areas for us," Grovyle chimed in, more to the infernape.

Leo could feel his face burning as he looked around at everyone…everyone watching him…some smirking. Lonny seemed to be waiting for a response from him too. "Well, I guess I better show you where we live, then." He took her small human hand in his own larger swampert one in prep for leading her to where he, Blaze and Grovyle lived in the side of Sharpedo Bluff.

His human self and Sally stopped them, though. "Leo, bring her by later," Sally said. "We need to get her more clothes than just what she's wearing."

Leo nodded acknowledgment, though noticed Lonny looking down at herself, cocking her head slightly.

"Do I need more? I mean, I'm not going back…" Lonny ran a finger along the edge of the neck opening of her white dress and tugged, as if trying to take the weight off.

"Yes, you do," Sally insisted.

"Definitely," Leo added. There would be way too many questions to answer to too many Pokémon about why humans looked the way they did!

"I dunno, I thought she's cute without clothes," some Pokémon said somewhere. It was followed closely by a soft smack.

"Well…this is going to be different," Blaze remarked as they passed the last building of town on the way to the bluff. Despite the wind blowing his mane around somewhat, it still puffed some.

"You told me you go on a lot of missions," Lonny said. "Like rescuing Pokémon and finding things. I want to go with you on those. I want to be useful!"

Blaze and Grovyle glanced at him, both suddenly acting uncomfortable.

"Me too!" Chip cried behind them.

He sighed. So the first task was going to be explaining to her why such an idea was bad, it seemed. Of course, that was probably only the start. He already could see all kinds of uncomfortable situations ahead…

* * *

It was growing overcast when they got back to the house; rain wasn't far off. It was even smelling like rain with the growing humidity. Leo Hanson got to preparing some early dinner (they had meat, thanks to Ticonamo), while Sally tried to pick out some additional clothes for Lonny, although she wasn't sure if she could really spare anything more. Also thanks to Ticonamo's timely delivery of some supplies, his mate at least had a few extra other items she could give the former swampert.

Including some strictly feminine items.

"You know, if she's truly human now, she's going to need some of these," she proclaimed, holding up one such item from the bundle she'd gathered together…

…just as Kangason came in unannounced from the back yard.

Since Kangason was apparently still around, they had the little green kangaroo-like Pokémon stay for some food. It was the least they could do for all the gardening help he continued to provide. Although he'd been hoping his counterpart would show up with Blaze, Lonny and Grovyle in time for the meal, Kangason left as it started getting dark, leaving him and Sally alone.

It was at times like this that he both like being alone with his wife, and yet missed the companionship of Grovyle.

He set about starting a fire in the stone fireplace as the first few raindrops hit the canvass roof, and just finished when there were knocks at the door.

"It's starting to rain," were his counterpart's first words on entering after Sally let everyone in. Soon they were all around the smoldering fire, save for Lonny and Sally, the latter taking the former into the bedroom and shutting the door.

The former swampert was about to get an education, Leo thought uncomfortably. There were a few things Sally said she needed to tell her in addition to just giving her a few things, and he pretty much guessed what they were going to be considering some of the items. Only thing that concerned him, was that it might be too soon. Sally expressed the same concern, but the sooner Lonny was told, the lower the chance she might be surprised by her new body.

"How is she settling?" he asked while poking at the fire to get it to burn better. Some of the wood apparently was still green, and drips from the rain, falling down the chimney around the rain diverter, wasn't going to help either.

"She likes the view," his counterpart answered, both Blaze and Grovyle chiming in with something in their own language. "And she wants a softer bed."

Leo laughed. "Well you know, we humans aren't quite as tough as you Pokémon." Which elicited a squawk from Grovyle.

"He says he wouldn't mind a softer one too. Don't suppose you have a spare mattress, do you?"

In moving one of the logs, the fire nearly went out. He fought for a few seconds to prevent that before answering. "Sorry, fresh out." After struggling for several more seconds, Blaze finally jumped up and after using one of his purple hands to gently push him to the side, unleashed a small flamethrower. The fire instantly was raging.

"Uh, thanks, Blaze," while hastily backing up from the suddenly intense heat.

"Infern ra."

Of course the infernape settled right next to it, not minding the heat nearly as much. Even his hair could handle high heat without singeing, Leo thought enviously.

"I stick that _where?_" Lonny's voice could be heard almost shouting.

Leo glanced with the four Pokémon toward the closed bedroom door. After clearing his throat, "Um, otherwise, do you think she'll be fine? Granted, it's only been little over a day."

Blaze shrugged, Grovyle stayed his usual non-committal self despite stroking a wrist leaf blade that showed he was thinking, Chip merely stared back, and his counterpart visibly sagged before settling on his stomach. "She'll be adjusting for a while," he sighed. "Even after I lost my memories, it felt like I was adjusting for a while after being changed. I hope it's easier for her."

"So do I," Leo replied. Though he pretty much doubted it was going to be, given the events already.

For a few moments, they fell silent as the fire crackled and the occasional low voice came through the door, partly drowned out by the fire and the light rain hitting the tent-like roof. In fact, he almost didn't hear the two knocks, but each of the Pokémon obviously heard it since they all perked up.

"Are you expecting anyone else?" his counterpart asked, forehead slightly furrowed around his purple head fins.

"No," Leo answered, equally curious as to who would be calling given the rain and the hour. Once in the entryway, he opened the door…on Wigglytuff. Behind him stood a…clefable! He instantly was trying to think back and remember the one he saw in town the other day, deciding it had to be the same one given he'd never seen any other clefable before then…before remembering his manners and stepping aside. "Wigglytuff, uh, come in."

The pink Guildmaster replied in unintelligible Poke speech though it clearly a greeting, stepping in with the clefable likewise saying something as it followed. For the first time, he got a decent look at the plain brown satchel it was carrying, which looked of leather and well-worn with plenty of scuffs.

"Guildmaster?" he heard his counterpart say as they rounded the wall in front of him and into the living room…before some slight gasps when the clefable became visible to them. It left him instantly wondering if they knew this clefable as they all launched into conversation, starting with obvious introductions by Wigglytuff as he pointed to each of them in turn.

* * *

"This is Chalesti," Wigglytuff said in starting the intros, and introduced all of them in turn. "She's the clefable I think you've been wondering about."

Leo instantly wanted to ask a load of questions as his fins tingled with anticipation at getting some answers, but Chalesti turned around, looking up and down, like searching for something. "No blue human?" she asked, facing Wigglytuff.

At that moment the bedroom door opened and two red-faced humans came walking out, one with light-blue and white skin.

Chalesti stared, wide-eyed, as did Lonny and Sally in return.

"More guests?" Sally finally asked, glancing between the Leos and the clefable.

"Then…it's true," Chalesti said, before laughing excitedly. "It was exactly true!"

"What was?" Leo asked, hoping she was referring to Lonny transformation. Indeed, he couldn't find out how she made her prediction fast enough! But more importantly, if she had any clues about reversing Lonny's change.

"Chalesti, please explain what you do to everyone, and Leo, please translate for the humans," Wigglytuff said, finding himself a place on one of the cut log chairs behind everyone else.

Leo translated, but first wanted to say something. "There's something I should tell you first," facing his human self, Sally and Lonny. "The night before Lonny and Christina arrived, Kangaskhan told us a clefable visited her, asking about a blue human. Of course we had no idea what she was talking about, but when Lonny showed up as…a blue human, Wigglytuff started a search for the clefable. I'm sorry I didn't say anything about it, but other than what I just told you, we didn't know anything else."

Lonny looked slightly angry, but she settled next to him anyway on the rug-covered floor, as did Sally by his other self.

"Don't keep stuff like that from us," his human self scolded.

"Sorry, but what good would it have done? Besides, we were busy enough with other things." Well, it was true!

His human self grimaced.

"I didn't mean to cause any trouble," Chalesti started, putting herself more into the circle around the fire, which was now the only source of light inside being completely dark outside. Then setting her rather large satchel on the floor, "I'm a researcher; I go on expeditions to acquire knowledge and conduct research of interesting locations, which often has me going to far-away places. Recently I was given an old document by a clefable college of mine. Apparently it had been buried in our archives for some time and only just rediscovered. Since he didn't have time for it, I was assigned to research it."

"Sounds like there's a Pokémon University on this planet," Sally remarked.

"That'd be something to see," the human Leo added.

"It's a Guild for researchers," Chalesti answered. "As humans, it would be an honor to have you visit, but it is a long journey; it took me a month crossing the sea."

"Maybe I should consider having such a thing for _my_ Guild," Wigglytuff mused from the rear.

Chalesti paused before getting back to the subject at hand. "The document I was given appeared to be a map, one of _this_ continent, and seemed to indicate something at a particular location…along with something else I didn't understand at the time. I've spent the last several weeks searching for whatever it was, but I couldn't even find the landmarks. Then a couple weeks ago while staying in a small village, I heard a rumor about actual living humans being on this planet. Finally, that 'something else' the map depicted suddenly made some sense. So I came here to look for you." Facing Leo: "On arrival, I also learned about your explorer team, and it was then I became certain my coming here was the correct action."

Leo glanced at everyone else, as everyone else did likewise. "I don't understand."

"Maybe it's best if I show you."

The wind sounded like it was gusting outside, the canvass roof rippling some overhead as Chalesti opened the flap of her leather satchel to pull out a large, short tube of wood. Moving closer to the fire, she carefully pulled out of it what looked like some rolled parchment before bending over and uncoiling the obviously aged, rough paper.

Along with himself, everyone stood up to get a closer look.

It was as the clefable described: a rough outline of the continent was drawn, along with several terrain features in the correct places, including mountains, rivers, forests and the smaller desert in the southeast. A simple "X" seemed to mark a location in that desert, with a line drawn from it to a square containing a more-detailed blow-up of the area.

That wasn't what got his attention though.

He leaned right over his other self as the human put his hand near the square to flatten the paper more. Under the slightly flickering light of the fire, the clefable's interest then became clear, that being a depiction of six hand-drawn and colored figures spaced equally around the square on two sides: a swampert, an infernape, a grovyle…and three humans. One of the humans was colored blue…

"Huh?" Blaze said with a sharp intake of breath. "Ha ha…that's…us?"

"But…that's not possible," Grovyle remarked with narrowed eyes in the dim light.

"Chalesti, how old is this map?" Leo heard his human self ask as he rubbed the paper, making it crinkle.

The clefable answered and Leo translated after some hesitation, since he couldn't believe it himself: "It's believed to be at least five thousand years old. Maybe more."

Dead silence as Chalesti looked between the map and Lonny several times. "I hadn't known before, but those lines drawn on the head are small fins. Just like yours."

Lonny's mouth hung open as she felt up to the remnants of her former large purple fins.

Leo stood, allowing his other self to at least straighten up some. Sticking to human speech: "What does this mean? Obviously we weren't around five thousand years ago! And Dialga isn't around anymore to make such a thing happen either."

"Dialga?" Chalesti exclaimed, backing up a step.

"Yes, we knew him. Long story."

"It _would_ take Dialga; Celebi can't do that kind of a time jump," Grovyle remarked. "Except in a whole lot of small steps, which would be impractical."

"Well…" First looking down at the map, Chalesti then glanced around at everyone: "I don't know what it means, but I think it obvious you're connected to whatever this map says is there. From the age of this map, it's been there for a long time too. I deduce you can help me find it." Again, she looked between the map and all of them. Finally with clear certainty in her tone: "The likeness is unmistakable."

"Indeed it is!" Wigglytuff said, sliding off his chair. "I think you should go on this expedition. It sounds like an exciting mystery to solve! Indeed worthy of the best explorers, and you six…seem to have a personal connection to it as well. Lucky you!"

No doubt, mystery described it perfectly. Leo wasn't so sure about lucky, though. Then from Chalesti's manner, he got the sense there was more yet. She didn't disappoint.

"The map isn't the only thing," the clefable continued and reached once again into her satchel, this time she pulling out what appeared to be a large, hand-sized gem.

"What's that?" Blaze asked, leaning in for a closer look.

"It was found with the map, and matches _this_ drawing." Using one of her three fingers, she pointed to the map and one of the figures.

In seeing the drawing of everyone, Leo realized he hadn't really noticed the seventh figure above the square, that being of a striking similarity to the shape of the crystal in the clefable's hand. He assumed it had been merely decorative…

Chalesti handed the object to Blaze, allowing him and Leo a good look. As the infernape turned it over in his purple hands, Leo could see it had fourteen flat sides and was absolutely clear, like either of glass, diamond or quartz, except for the center where it had a silvery, almost metallic translucent core that seemed nearly spherical.

"What is that in the middle?" Leo asked as everyone else crowded in for their own close look in the firelight.

"Don't know that either," Chalesti answered. "But since it's drawn on the map and was found with it…"

Wigglytuff had come over, getting his (obviously) second look at it. "Another mystery to solve. Lucky you again!"

* * *

Leo knew Lonny wasn't happy. Apparently she wasn't too pleased he hadn't told her what he heard about the clefable the night before she arrived, even though it wouldn't had changed anything. Then during the night, she first tried laying on her stomach like all swamperts sleep. Apparently that wasn't all that comfortable for humans, so she switched to her back, which was a rather new experience for her. But the slight raised part on her lower spine that used to be her rear fin seemed to cause discomfort when she laid on it. More straw underneath helped some, but she switched back to her stomach before ultimately ending up on her side. She also didn't like wearing the clothes, being confining and all, but without them she was too cold.

By early morning she was tired and shivering on her side under the one small blanket his human self and Sally had let her keep (not that they really had any to spare). At least she finally found some sleep, though continued to shift periodically.

Being a swampert, he didn't produce all that much in the way of body heat (at least near human body temperatures), though that didn't stop her from trying to snuggle up to him. Chip certainly was trying to help on the other side of her, tucking himself by her neck (and under the blanket).

With the first signs of dawn, he finally sighed and got up (since Lonny's tossing and turning meant he couldn't get much sleep either). Fortunately both her and Chip stayed blissfully asleep as he carefully moved around them, Blaze and Grovyle on the way out and up, with his most immediate need being some relief.

As usual, the high cliff provided a beautiful view of the surrounding ocean as the sky continued to lighten opposite it, the clouds from the last night now cleared off, and after taking care of business, he lingered to watch, enjoy the smells of dawn, and think. A lot sure happened the last couple days. Lonny's transformation would have been shocking enough, but then to learn it may had been predicted five thousand years ago…

The obvious course of action was to mount an expedition to see just what it was that old map Chalesti had was indicating. After all, the map all but had their names on it…as well as the apparent prediction of Lonny becoming almost human! Of course one thought he had was the map was a fake, but Wigglytuff seemed to vouch for its age though, and the Guildmaster was one Pokémon he would even trust his life to. And the Clefable _did_ ask about a blue human the day _before_ it became a reality.

So if they were to go on an expedition, then normally only he, Blaze and Grovyle would go. Yet, the three humans were depicted too…

"Watching the sunrise?" asked a familiar infernape's voice.

Leo nodded without turning around. "Just thinking about everything."

"It's been a crazy last few days," Blaze replied.

After waiting while his closest friend apparently took care of his own business somewhere, he glanced over as the infernape returned to stand beside him. "I guess we have an expedition in front of us."

Blaze nodded, settling down on his hunches as infernapes normally did. "I'm really curious what's there. It's been a while since there'd been anyplace worth exploring; this would be great if it's something ancient. You know how I like exploring such places."

Indeed, he knew his partner very well in that regard, and even his mane was puffing in excitement. "Keep in mind that Chalesti said she couldn't find anything there."

"That 'x' was in the same part of the continent as Concealed Ruins, so maybe this is concealed too," the infernape pointed out. "I also can't help but think it's something very important, too."

Which was true and plausible too. If not obvious on the latter point.

"But…" Blaze faced him, face wrinkled up in confusion, "how could our existence be predicted so long ago?"

"Maybe Dialga?" Leo offered. It seemed the only possible explanation. "He can see the future you know."

"I thought he said he wasn't able to see details like that. He certainly didn't predict what would happen to him and Palkia on Earth last year. But if he did have that map made back then, that means he knew about us for a very long time. How come he never said anything?"

Leo shrugged. There were probably a number of reasons to Dialga, but he wasn't Dialga. "Maybe…he didn't want to change the timeline? If we knew something about the future, we might change how we would otherwise behave, thereby changing the future. Again."

"I still don't think it was him." Blaze replied after a moment and a good scratch through his long red and yellow mane. "It just…I don't know, doesn't feel like his style. Unless he was very different back then."

"Then who else would have known that long ago?" Leo stared at his partner, who finally shrugged himself.

"If only he were still around…" the infernape mumbled, lowering his head as his mane lost all puffiness before someone else came up from their dwelling, her light blue, finned head popping up before the rest of her tightly grey blanket-wrapped body revealed itself.

Lonny stood looking around for a moment, blinking in the direct morning sunlight with a certain desperation about her. Then irritably: "Is there a bathroom around here, or do you just go anywhere?"

Leo waved toward the bushes and trees that covered a good share of the cliff, stretching toward Treasure Town much further down. "Anywhere further away. Be sure to bury it if that's what it is…"

Lonny didn't wait for him to finish before she was off toward the nearest bushes.

Blaze gave him a stare and he pretty much knew what the question was before they headed back underneath. It was the same question he was asking himself just before his partner joined him on top of the bluff. And the answer, it seemed, was Lonny would have to go with them, along with Sally and his human self.

Which of course meant a large degree of risk.

With some resignation, he dunked his head into the small water-filled rock basin that formed from a small spring leaking from the cliff face, as he did every morning. Since Lonny was human now, that probably meant she lacked her Pokémon abilities. Although they hadn't actually tested that yet…

A face joined his underwater, startling him. Looking ahead, he found Lonny's face staring back at him. But after a few seconds, her eyes widened and in another moment, she was jerking her had back out.

"They don't work!" she screamed, holding her hands on the slightly raised green patches on her cheeks. "And it's cold!"

Just as he gained Pokémon abilities when he was changed into a Pokémon, it could be assumed she lost hers on changing into a human.

"Ahh!" Slamming her fists on the rim of the basin in frustration, she only ended up grimacing in obvious pain. Then whipping around, she stormed back upside…only after nearly tripping on the first step.

Both Blaze and Grovyle looked on with concerned expressions.

"Mom?" Chip asked and started to follow before Leo stopped him.

Nope, she wasn't happy. It simply was going to take a while for her to get used to life as a human. Perhaps starting on a long expedition immediately wasn't the best thing for her, thinking as he started up after her to try and calm her down.

* * *

Leo Hanson finished stuffing the backpack with spare clothes, containers of food, the collapsible shovel, and other camping essentials they brought from Earth. He could feel his excitement (and caution) growing, now that the time to leave was nearly at hand.

The fact that they would go and investigate the location the clefable's map indicated had been a given. What hadn't been was who all was going to go. His swampert counterpart made it known months before he didn't want either him or Sally going on any missions, simply because the world outside Treasure Town was too dangerous for humans. Any creature lacking a Pokémon's ability to wield attacks (and to heal quickly), would risk serious injury or death given the number of wild Pokémon lurking about who wouldn't think twice about attacking whoever crossed their paths. The same was apparently going to apply to Lonny as well, since she was now (mostly) human.

Maybe the swampert was being overprotective, but Leo choose to listen to himself, even though one of the reasons he and Sally came to the Poke world was to do some exploring.

But the information Chalesti presented five nights ago changed all that. Since all six of them were apparently depicted on the map, that suggested all six of them might be needed for something. As a result, he and Sally were finishing packing.

One who wasn't depicted on the map was Chip; both his counterpart and Lonny agreed he should be left at the daycare in town, where he would be safe under the chasney's care. Since Wigglytuff (or any of the Guild) wasn't depicted either, he was staying behind, obstinately to figure out some new expedition for the Guild since he became excited by what they were doing.

"Are we ready?" Sally asked, popping her head in the bedroom doorway, her long red-hair draping straight down over her shoulders.

Leo first smiled at his beauty of a wife, then looked at the freshly stuffed backpacks, one for each of them with a sleeping bag strapped to the bottom of each. "I think so. Sleeping bags, three changes of clothes, soap and other toiletries, towels, a couple of pans for cooking, shovel, rope, our solar recharging flashlights, basic food for a week, and I assume we'll gather some on the way out and back for whatever more we need. Oh, and several canteens."

Sally smiled back. "Well, hopefully that swampert of ours remembered that since Lonny is now human, she's going to require a few more things to be packed. Do you think she'll have a backpack?"

He shrugged. "I'm sure Leo will have something for her. Too bad we don't have a spare." He could just see the former swampert having to carry a large knapsack over her shoulder, rather than something like the nice form-fitting backpacks they had from Earth.

Helping Sally into her pack, she did the same for him and together, they left under the warm and sunny morning sky, heading for the meeting point just outside Treasure Town. With a last glance back, he turned the corner on the well-worn dirt path and their house fell out of sight behind a row of trees. He sure hoped Kangason would be able to take care of everything on his own; he got the odd sensation it would be a while before they returned. He also hoped that if a portal was opened from Earth, that the automated response he left on the solar-charged radio explained things enough.

"I'm so excited I can't stand it," Sally commented as they arrived at the meeting point.

Leo wrapped an arm around his beautiful, thirty-two old wife, also noticing the scent she apparently put on that morning, something she rarely did due the small supply she had brought from Earth. "Same here. Finally we get to do some exploring!"

"I sure hope Lonny's doing better, though."

He mentally grimaced. According to his counterpart, his mate had been a handful. "Well, she did like those pants and shirt we made for her yesterday." Out of course, green cloth, that being the only cloth that could be had on short notice. At least it would fit her better than anything Sally had, since Lonny was just a little bigger. Just so it didn't irritate her skin; that would be the last thing she needed, from his counterpart's account!

"Think your counterpart, Blaze and Grovyle can manage to keep three humans safe out there?" Sally asked, more seriously.

"I sure hope so," he replied, feeling the twinge of his own fear racketing up a little and his heart quickened it's pace. Partly nullified as Sally leaned against him and wrapped an arm around him. Then: "I'm sure they'll manage it, though."


	5. Chapter 5: Battles

_Note: I commissioned some artwork to go with the end of this chapter. I have the link on my Profile page (9/19/2010 dated entry). To avoid a spoiler, please read this chapter before viewing. :)_

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* * *

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**Chapter V: Battles**

"Get down!" Leo yelled, preparing to give a water pulse to the quagsire attacking them inside the cave. As the three humans dropped though, Grovyle scaled across the wet wall and was already striking the Pokémon with a glowing wrist leaf blade. Being struck by the grass-type, the quagsire screamed before retreating back into a darkened side cave.

Blaze breathed a sigh of relief behind him along with the humans as they got back up. His infernape partner really wasn't too fond of the Craggy Coast caves, being inhabited primary by water-types. Chalesti by contrast, almost looked amused as her own fist stopped glowing. Although none of them had seen her use any abilities yet, he had to guess she was rather powerful, probably equal to any of them. Being an explorer and traveling between continents (mostly alone, she claimed), she would have to be.

"I could of taken care of that thing," Lonny said under her breath in Poké speech while walking closely beside him as they all resumed their trek. "If I was still a swampert. I _hate_ being unable to defend myself like this."

Leo really didn't know what tell her…anything that would help, anyway. After a half-dozen encounters with wild Pokémon that required fighting them off, he was feeling sorry for the proud former swampert. He ended up merely patting her shoulder before wrapping an arm around her, which she seemed to appreciate.

"Knowing you," Blaze said, "you'll end up saving our tails, fins and leaves at some point."

"Indeed," Grovyle added from behind. "Doesn't matter what body you're in, you're the same you. And I do know what I'm talking about." With his wrist blades, he pointed to both Leos.

She put a smile on her light blue and green human face, though it looked forced.

Thankfully it wasn't much further before they were out of the cold, damp and dimly illuminated caves, but now with the sun only a couple hours above the western horizon, it was time to make camp. Which was good since they were all looking worn, having been a long, hard day of hiking (and battling). With the area being familiar after many trips over the years, both he and Blaze knew the best place to do so.

"Just up ahead," Blaze announced, leading the way through a large thicket of bramble bushes and tall grass covering a broad cliff overlooking the sea, though every dozen paces he stood up straight to get his maned head above the vegetation and get his bearings. Of course there was the occasional exclamation or curse as a thorn claimed some chuck of hair or created a new scratch in flesh.

"Just were we left it," Leo joked when they broke into a large clear area that stretched right up to the edge of the cliff, providing a nice view of the setting sun over the ocean. A breeze from the sea promised to keep bugs at bay, too.

Setting up camp took only a few moments, mostly rearranging the stones countless other teams had used for a fire circle, gathering some wood, and the humans stretching out their sleeping bags.

Lonny didn't have one though, and he helped her gather some of the surrounding tall, dry grass to make beds for all the Pokémon. Even his human self pitched in while Sally went about heating up some stew (imported from Earth) over the fire freshly set by Blaze. Grovyle and Chalesti had disappeared for a while, reappearing as dinner was almost ready with arms full of berries and fruit.

"I think there are some wild Pokémon around," Grovyle hissed quietly in passing on the way to the fire, dropping the berries and fruit by Sally for her to slice up.

"I heard at least five, maybe ten," Chalesti added, some slight concern on her face. "We should get the humans around the fire, close together."

"Agreed," Grovyle said quietly.

Leo instinctively stood himself up straighter with some concern at the number mentioned as Blaze jumped back up.

"Ten?" the infernape exclaimed quietly, looking around at the surrounding tall grass and bushes. "Think they're all together?"

"They sounded close and in the same direction," Chalesti answered, pointing.

"A gang?" Leo wondered. Every once in a while, he and Blaze (and Grovyle as of late) would come across a chamber or path where several Pokémon would be congregated. Working together, these wild Pokémon usually would try to knock them out and steal whatever they were carrying. Damned thieves. Occasionally though, they were nasty Pokémon who didn't appreciate others roaming their territory and were looking to beat anyone up who dared trespass. But gangs typically didn't exist in wide-open areas, outside of the locations normally considered high-risk for explorer teams. Where they currently were should have been completely safe. Although, one could never be truly safe outside of the towns…

Even as he thought that, Pokémon yells erupted from the edge of the cleared area and immediately, a good dozen Pokémon came jumping out of the grass one after the other! Several of them stopped for a few seconds, pointing to the humans with mouths agape.

"Weird creatures! Look weak!" one screamed before lunging with several others.

"Throw 'em in the sea! Take everything!"

Adrenaline kicking in, Leo was already rushing with Blaze and along with Grovyle and Chalesti, formed a semi-circle several paces from the central fire. With all the attacking Pokémon only at their starting evolution or one up, he wasn't surprised to see his focus punch send a much smaller attacking cubone literally flying backward and back into the tall grass and bramble. Yet they were seriously outnumbered…and more than one got past!

A female screamed behind him, not one of terror but of anger. He glanced, seeing a chimchar grab something from near Sally. "Give that back, pipsqueak!" Lonny roared, surprising the heck out of the little Pokémon as she started giving chase. "I'm not the weak thing I look like!"

"Leo!" Blaze yelled.

He turned in the nick of time to avoid an electric bolt from a pikachu. It was all he had to do as Chalesti knocked the large yellow mouse back into the grass, a satisfying screech erupting from the creature…right as a paras took advantage of the distraction by leaping and clamping onto his rear fin! He wanted to ignore it and go help Lonny, but the Pokémon's claws were pinching hard!

"Let go!" Sending a backward jab, he nearly knocked the grass-type off before having to water-pulse a too-close-for-comfort venonat. But the paras hung on and started letting out a fine dust from the mushroom-like appendages on its back. Holding his breath to avoid the stun spores, he gave it one more backward hit with a glowing fist, finally sending it tumbling several feet and knocked out cold as a phanpy came charging in.

The rolling blue-grey three-quarters of a hundred pounds hit him square on one leg, taking him down in an instant. Not being close to knocked out, he fought the pain to get back up before…

It was too late. He couldn't even get a word out before the fast-moving phanpy continued its course toward Lonny.

Only at the last instant did his mate realize what was heading for her, and by then she couldn't do anything. The phanpy jumped and not just collided, but plowed into her against her upper right side, sending her human body rolling.

Leo charged as hard as he could on all fours, slamming into the tiring phanpy with all his angry strength. The creature went tumbling down the not-so-steep cliff to the narrow beach below, where it didn't immediately move. Panting and enraged, he heard Lonny moaning and immediately stepped toward her, but there were yet even more urgent yells. Behind them, both his human self and Sally were fighting off another paras and an aipom with burning sticks from the fire while retreating toward the cliff edge.

Blaze, Grovyle and Chalesti were all still fighting the other dozen Pokémon, no sooner knocking one away before an earlier one came running back. Damned they were determined to steal something! Again he charged, swearing to make more of them pay for what one did to Lonny!

* * *

Leo Hanson felt scant relief on finding the only item he saw get taken, that being one of the forks. Though most the attacking Pokémon gang had been knocked out, the few retreating ones could of taken anything with them. Fortunately they had been forced to leave empty-handed. In fact, they actually had left something, being in the form of several good-sized bruises on Lonny's ribs.

Any excitement he had about this expedition quickly evaporated on seeing the former swampert. Throwing the fork back toward everything else, he hurried the first aid kit to where Sally and all the Pokémon were having a good look at Lonny, wondering perhaps if one of their towels wrapped around her as a make-shift bandage might help.

Sitting up on the ground, Lonny winced in raising her arms in trying to remove her shirt; her bruises went beyond just her right side, being somewhat mirrored on her left where her body hit the ground hard. There were also a few on her left arm for probably the same reason, only becoming fully visible after both his swampert counterpart and Sally helped get her green shirt off.

Although it looked pretty bad, her light blue skin on her sides and back was probably making them look a little worse than they were, whereas the stark white skin on her chest perhaps made them look slightly less severe.

"Ow!" Lonny again winced when Sally gently pressed some fingers into her side, and continued grimacing as Sally moved them along her obviously sore ribs. The former swampert finally breathed a sigh of relief as Sally stood up.

"Nothing broken, and by the looks of it you're pretty lucky for that, but I guess you'll be sore for a while," she proclaimed.

"Tell me something I don't know," Lonny snapped back.

"Well, we have to make sure," Sally returned, a little louder than she had to.

The new human sighed loudly as she visibly sagged. "I'm so damned weak. I couldn't even catch that chimchar…"

"You just aren't used to being human yet," Leo said, hoping to lessen the blow of the obvious. Compared to most Pokémon and their ability to use an energy humans didn't have, humans _were_ relatively weak; there was just no way around that fact. Some humans could and did buff themselves up to go head-to head with Pokémon around the same size, but only if said Pokémon didn't use its energy.

His counterpart leaned over her, putting his comparatively large blue arms (gently!) around her. "That phanpy knocked me down too. Human or swampert, you would've taken a good hit…"

"I wouldn't have ended up looking like I'd been hit by 'n ocean liner! I would've clobbered that damned Pokémon instead! _All_ of them!" Her buildup of frustration was evident, boiling over when she pushed her mate's arms away and jumped up, running off toward the tall grasses and some trees much further down the cliff edge in the fading sunlight.

It was just a glimpse as she ran past him, but Leo was sure he saw tears forming.

Scarcely a moment later, Blaze placed a hand on his counterpart's shoulder in saying something in Poké speech. The swampert nodded before going after her slowly.

Perhaps to give her a few minutes by herself, he thought.

Sally sighed in returning to the fire a moment later. "I was crazy to think she would adjust quickly," speaking quietly while lifting the wooden spoon out of the now well heated and boiling stew. "Maybe we should have waited longer before going on this expedition."

Leo could only agree with his wife. Still… "She has to work it out sometime and in some way. I suppose better for her to find out now what her limitations are and adjust before she gets into a situation where acting foolishly will get her killed."

She returned a glance as he handed her a makeshift hot pad for the overheated pot. "I hope she _can_ adjust."

"Rrr-aaa," Blaze said in a tone of agreement as he sat nearby, huddling his yellow haired knees up to rest his chin on.

* * *

Leo could hear her sobbing, and took in a deep breath of the sweet-smelling tall grass as he trudged through it. Lonny had stopped at a tree some distance away from camp, and was overlooking the ocean and sunset as she leaned against it. Slowly, she slid down to sit burying her head in her knees.

In the couple minutes it took to reach her, he thought of a couple things to say. Now that he stood beside her, he changed his mind. It felt best to just let her cry for a while and simply be by her. Of course he was also worried some of the Pokémon gang might still be around, looking for revenge, so he tried listening for sounds of anyone moving through the grass nearby.

Eventually as the sun went below the horizon, the western sky turning from yellow to orange, and after he laid down beside her, she calmed down with only a few sniffles.

"I'm glad we didn't bring Chip along," she said a little hoarsely. "I don't want him seeing me like this. I used to be a lot tougher; I never cried."

That was true, at least around him. He'd never known a tougher Pokémon in that regard.

"I…know all of you have been trying to make me feel better, but I just don't feel better. I have to depend on you, Blaze and Grovyle for protection. Even Chalesti."

"Depending on others isn't a bad…"

Cutting him off angrily: "I'm utterly useless! That phanpy made me realize how _much_. Damn it Leo, I can't do this; I can't be a human! I might as well be _dead!_" The tears started anew.

Suddenly more than just concerned by her words, he got up enough to lean closer. Putting his arm around her shoulders, he drew her in a little closer. "Lonny, humans aren't useless and neither are you. Trust me on this. You just haven't learned yet what things you _can_ do."

"Leo…" She started to reach an arm around him, but winced and jerked back. Slamming a fist into the ground before screeching, "Damn it, I hurt so much! I'm supposed to be stronger than this, much stronger! It's all been taken away from me!"

He could only hang on to her as she fully broke down again, sobs wracking her body and tears flowing freely down her face and over his skin as she buried her face against him. He wanted desperately to hung her tight and give her a kiss, but was afraid of hurting her with her bruises and his lips didn't allow him to kiss. Instead, he rubbed her back and it didn't take her as long to regain herself this time; in a few minutes she was calm again.

Wiping some lingering tears away, "What that map is marking…do you think it might be a way to reverse this? I mean, I was on it as…this," gesturing a hand at herself.

"I don't know," he answered, glad she was starting to focus on something that might give her hope. But he didn't want to build those hopes up very high only to have her greatly disappointed. "All I can guess is it was drawn by someone who knew something about the future. They knew about us. Which means you, as a human, have a role to play in this."

She sighed heavily before sitting up gingerly. She was silent for a while as they both looked across the sea, blue and purple twilight replacing the last vestiges of the reddish glow of sunset. "Do you still love Sally?"

Her question surprised him. He'd told her he still did on many occasions, since his love for her survived his transformation into a Pokémon, and he most certainly told her about what he remembered of his human life.

Not waiting for an answer, "If there's no way to reverse this, then I think you're better off with her," saying it with no hint of emotion as she separated from him a little.

"She married," he replied simply, though fearing what she was trying to say.

"So."

"She's also hum…" His eyes widened, at once realizing what she was really getting at. He swallowed, took a breath: "I'm not going to abandon you," speaking with resolve. "You're my mate and I love you; a little thing like you turning into a human isn't going to change that. I've been through one change like that already along with a change in time lines. I'm keeping my mate this time."

"I look like a freak," she countered.

"You still look good to _me_. And you still have those fins."

She snorted before grimacing. "You used to be human, Leo; your tastes are a little off."

"Exactly." The wind stirred a little stronger off the sea; he saw her visibly shiver as she looked up at him. Moving a few inches allowed him to get his arm around her again. Carefully, gently, he pulled her against him once again to help keep her warm. She responded by snuggling herself in his arms while he used one of his large fingers to slowly stroke along one of her small head fins, which was one of the more sensitive parts of a swampert's body.

She sighed as if relaxing. "My little sweetie," she breathed.

* * *

The grasses seemed endless along the narrow strip of land between the rocky shore and the forest not much further inland. It was also hilly, and Leo Hanson found himself sweating long before the sun finished its climb into the sky. For the want of a good breeze from the sea…

There wasn't much talking that morning after they had started out, either between him and Sally nor between the Pokémon. His swampert counterpart had taken him aside last night after Lonny had fallen asleep to explain what she was feeling, and that was occupying his own thoughts. He knew Sally was still concerned as well.

He supposed in the end, he wasn't surprised the former swampert was having trouble. Not that he himself had gone through such a thing (not counting his counterpart), but having one's body changed like that would require significant adjustment with all aspects of one's life. Almost like dying and being reincarnated in someone else's body. Only without the dying part.

But the bottom line was Lonny was feeling useless and defenseless, with only a fraction of her former strength and none of her former abilities. His counterpart was looking for any suggestions to help so she would feel like she could help out…other than with only the mundane tasks like the cooking and gathering grass for the beds.

As a human, he never knew any different so he really had no idea what to suggest that would substitute for a Pokémon's abilities. Unfortunately, she was going to have to accept being limited to what humans could do. Which certainly could be a great deal…if they had the tools. Like guns. He could see Lonny as being the type of female who would use one, too. Of course they didn't have any, so the point was moot.

Blaze and Grovyle, in the lead of their little group, both stopped suddenly, looking around for a moment before a ekans came slithering through the grass from the forest. For once the Pokémon didn't seem intent on attacking, and the Pokémon all exchanged a few words before Blaze and Grovyle led them on again. The ekans though, gave him, Sally and Lonny a long stare before continuing on it's own path.

"Seems humans earn a lot of stares even out here," Sally commented, readjusting her pack's shoulder straps.

"Or just looking at _me_," Lonny added glumly.

Leo moved to help his wife with the adjustment, knowing what Lonny meant. He'd already told her she didn't look that bad as a human. In fact, her light blue skin, the light green patches on her checks and forearms, and the small purple head fins really added a cuteness to her, to which Sally agreed and added beautiful and exotic.

But she had been a swampert, and of course other swamperts looked good to her and not so much humans. That was good for his counterpart in that she (should) still be attracted to him, but for the other way around…he wasn't sure.

Getting back to his original train of thought on what to do to help her, though… One thing did finally occur to him, and over the next half hour as the sun continued rising, he mentally worked out most of the problems. Yes, with Blaze's help, it just might be doable! Then tapping his counterpart's shoulder: "Do you have any of those Poké coins with you? I think I need about ten of them."

His counterpart looked somewhat perplexed in replying, "We always carry some money with us, but there's no place out here to buy anything," sweeping his large hand around them at the trees, sea, and the grass.

"I'm not going to use them to buy something, but you won't be getting them back, if that's a problem." And that got everyone's eyebrows or brow ridges raised.

"What are you going to do?" Sally asked.

Coming up close behind Grovyle, he ignored his mate for a moment to whisper some instructions to him. The gecko-like Pokémon nodded understanding if not the why of it before taking off into the woods. "He'll rejoin us later," he finally told her and everyone else, smiling. After all, he wanted it to be a surprise. If it worked, that is.

* * *

Leo helped Sally and Lonny break out a small lunch for everyone where they'd stopped on top of one of the small hills near the sea, though he was curious as heck as to what his human self was doing. With some coins from Blaze, the other Leo set them on a large nearby rock and was having the infernape use his flamethrower to apparently try and melt them. Only Blaze couldn't get his flame hot enough…

So, he wanted a lump of metal for…?

And where did he send Grovyle? When he asked Grovyle as he was leaving, he only said into the forest for something.

If he had more of his human memories, perhaps he could guess what was going on. As it was, his other self wasn't divulging anything, simply saying "You'll see" every time he was asked.

Irritating.

"Don't you know what you're doing over there?" Sally asked jokingly while dropping slices of apples in everyone's bowls.

"Cute," he replied.

At least Lonny smiled at that. Picking one of the smaller berries, he tossed it at her.

She ate it before sticking her tongue out in return.

A few paces away, closer to Blaze and the other Leo, Chalesti was standing and watching them intently with her small black eyes. "What is he doing, trying to melt those?" she wondered aloud, munching on a Oran berry.

Sally just shook her head before picking up two of the bowls and taking them over to the human and infernape. "You're making a tool of some kind, aren't you?" asking as she came up behind her husband.

That much Leo had already figured out, but maddeningly, his human self shrugged while leaning in real close to the glowing metal for presumably a better look. "Just remember we aren't staying here very long," Leo reminded between chews of his own lunch. "You need to eat and rest a little for the afternoon hike." It still felt mightily weird whenever he had to tell his other self things like that…

"I know, I know," his human self replied almost dismissively.

He wasn't surprised at all at the response. He tended to be like that in getting so focused on something, it was all he could think about. Since he was a Pokémon, that bore out as determination to finish missions…or helping build someone's house.

"Blaze, can you focus your flames onto a smaller spot?" his other self continued.

"I don't know, I've never tried before," Blaze answered, which of course Leo had to translate. "But I don't understand why we're doing this."

Leo translated the question too, knowing what the answer was going to be and the human didn't disappoint.

The infernape gave a backward perplexed glance as he moved his long mane out of the way again that the slight breeze kept moving. Then after taking in a breath, gave what sounded like a controlled exhale, forming a small, low-velocity bright yellow flame from his mouth. By shaping his lips that almost looking like he was kissing, he eventually succeeded in getting the flame to a small area.

His other self looked almost excited as the coins started glowing brighter than before. "OK, now increase the heat! More flame!"

Leo wanted to watch, but heard someone approaching quickly from the forest side. Catching sight of a long, green leaf-blade through the tall grass, he knew immediately who it had to be with some relief. Sure enough, Grovyle soon broke through the tall grasses onto the hilltop, carrying a long, almost perfectly straight stick that looked to have been whittled a little. "Just in time for lunch," Leo greeted. "And is that what he wanted? What's it for?"

Grovyle shrugged before settling it down beside his human self. "I have no idea."

"Excellent, thank you Grovyle!" the other Leo said, right before taking up a small rock and pounding the now greatly softened pile of coins. Working with Blaze, he spent the next few moments pounding the round pieces of yellow-hot metal into one somewhat flattened but thick lump of raw metal.

After handing Grovyle his bowl of berries and apple, Leo finally laid on the flattened grass of the clearing. Yawning, he listened to the continuing pounding sound of rock hitting soft metal while feeling sleep coming on…until someone sat next to him and started leaning against his side and back.

"I feel like sleeping for a while too," Lonny said with a yawn. "Although I've never seen that being done to metal money before," pointing to the human and infernape.

"That what humans do. They make things, lots of things. They're very good at it."

"I know that, but I never paid much attention before. It…just looks more interesting now."

Curious response from his mate, but not enough to keep his eyes open; he was just glad she was in a slightly better mood today and decided to take as much advantage of the break as he could. If they kept a good pace, they might reach the small southeast desert by the end of tomorrow. But before he completely nodded off: "Leo, get some rest! We have a lot of traveling to do yet."

Yet the soft pounding continued. "I'll take a break in a little while. It won't make that much difference if we stay here a few extra minutes, will it?"

"Just like him," Grovyle commented somewhere off to the side.

He agreed, but it was still irritating he wouldn't listen to himself. After a quick peek around, he saw at least everyone else besides Blaze was laying down, though Chalesti was still watching intently, even leaning in a little too close where she had to be gently pushed back a little. "Blaze needs some rest too," speaking loud enough so that his partner would hear.

"I don't mind," Blaze replied. "This is kind of fun! Ha ha!"

"You know how you are," Sally told him in a half-whisper, continuing her play on words.

Which of course was _why_ he was worrying his other self would not rest and end up being dead tired long before the sun was down. Still, he sighed and after wrapping an arm around Lonny, let himself succumb to sleep under the bright early afternoon sun while enjoying the closeness of his mate, the fresh scents of the grasses and ocean, and the cool breeze from the sea playing over his fins.

* * *

Leo Hanson laid down on the sparsely grass-covered sandy knoll as soon as they stopped for the evening, exhausted.

"What a hike," Sally said after a tired sigh in joining him.

Perhaps he should've taken his counterpart's advice and rested more than he did over lunch. But once he got fixated on a project, very few things were going to rip him away from it! Besides, no amount of rest would've made him sweat any less from the hike and the two attacks they fought off.

"I'd really like a shower," he replied, getting a response from not just his wife. At one time or another, his counterpart, Blaze and Grovyle had all used their crude shower. It was a luxury both he and Sally worked hard during construction to make. It hadn't been easy given the resources available, but was well worth it. Before that, they had to rely on the town's well, the spring in the cliff-side where his counterpart and Blaze lived, or simply bathe in the ocean. At least he'd discovered the ocean on this Poké world wasn't as salty as the ones on Earth, though he still wouldn't consider drinking it.

Thinking of water…the area they now traveled was showing definite signs of getting more arid, starting with the sandy soil the knoll was made of, the thinning grass, and the forest's retreating tree line. Yet the forest turned jungle-like only ten or so miles inland, his Pokémon counterpart claimed. Bizarre; he could think of no equivalent area on Earth.

Still a good thing they filled up all their canteens a few hours prior at the last stream. Apparently it was the last one for a while.

A pulling on his arm brought his thoughts back, and he got back up with a tired heave to help Sally get some food going. Since it was evening and they were making camp, they would be having hot food….and berries. As his purple-fined counterpart had expected, they had found more than enough along the way (in the nearby forest) to supplement what they had brought.

Actually, there wasn't much for him to do as far as setting things up, basically gather some rocks to form a fire circle, then pile up the wood the Pokémon returned with a few moments later. After Blaze ignited the pile and Sally set the pot up, it was time to move on to the other job he had while the stew heated.

Taking two small fine-grained sandstone rocks he'd found along the way, he moved several paces away from everyone to get to work. Holding the rocks together in one hand, he took the flattened piece of metal (some mixture with copper he thought, since it had a slightly golden hue but wasn't near as soft) and started filing it between the "V" the rocks formed. Well, it sounded fine in theory anyway. In reality, the metal was hard enough that each slide between the rocks wasn't grinding as much away as he hoped, though it was at least working. And really, the fact the metal was hard was a good thing.

"This is going to take a while," he said quietly to himself…before hearing someone approach across the sand. Glancing back, it was the clefable with his counterpart in tow.

The pink Pokémon said something with a slight twitch in her six wings.

"She says she finds technology fascinating," the swampert translated. "She's dying to know what you're making. So am I, incidentally."

He just couldn't help but smirk. Even though he and his counterpart were one and the same up until four years prior, he didn't mind one bit that they could be quite different too. After a few more scrapes, "You'll just have to wait to find out." With any luck, he'd at least get the shaping done before the sunlight faded. After that, the rest should be easier he hoped.

In addition to the finished product, there was also at least one other benefit of having some work to focus on: he didn't think as much about where they were going. Assuming they could find whatever the map indicated, that was. Sure, he was curious about what was there, but he feared it some too. There really were only two ways as to how their likenesses could come to be depicted on a five thousand year old map: either someone back then predicted their existence…or at least one of them was actually there at the time.

* * *

Leo stared across the fire at Lonny as she ate. She still wasn't looking entirely comfortable with a spoon and was more inclined to just tip the bowl to dump the stew in her mouth. But her mouth wasn't as big now; when she tried the previous night, half the bowl contents emptied on her face.

Since Blaze had human-like hands, he started showing her the finer points of spoon control, something he learned on Earth.

Lonny acted…not ungrateful, but just frustrated with it. Again, her personality simply didn't like needing so much help. Certainly it wasn't just her physical body that was bruised.

"I think she's getting better at being a human," Grovyle observed in a near-whisper beside him, watching the same scene.

"One small step at a time." Perhaps. Yes, she had been in a better mood than yesterday, but that wasn't saying much and she still seemed moody…maybe even depressed.

Sally quickly finished her stew and berries, proving she was as ravenous as the rest of them, and handed her bowl and spoon to the human Leo who had volunteered to wash everything on the nearby beach. But then she stared at Lonny for a minute. Finally getting up and walking around Blaze, she stopped behind her, getting Lonny's notice.

"What?" Lonny asked without much emotion.

Without warning, Sally brushed her hand across Lonny's smooth light-blue head between her two fins. "Thought so," the long-haired red-head announced.

Gasping, Lonny felt her head, a much surprised look coming over her face. "No!"

Leo realized what it had to be and quickly got up to join Sally in standing over his mate. With one finger, he also felt across Lonny's head, finding it not as smooth as before.

"Don't touch me there!" she cried, fighting to push his hand away.

"You'll be just fine," Sally said in quickly bending over to give her a reassuring hug from the side, before picking up Chalesti's bowl and leaving toward the beach and the other Leo.

"Hey, it's not that bad," Leo said while noting the questions on the other Pokémons' faces. "Hair." Then back to Lonny: "It looks blonde, like Christina's. It'll be beautiful."

"How can it be _beautiful_?" she screeched.

At once he could feel her pain. It was yet another blow, driving home the point she was human; another unwanted and frightening break with what she used to be.

"Makes sense," Grovyle commented. "If you're human, you're going to grow hair."

Leo watched Lonny's head fins move in a blur as she whipped around to face the Pokémon. "I'm still part swampert, damnit!"

With his eyes closed and arms partly folded, Grovyle looked nonplussed. "Not enough."

To which Lonny replied with the best growl Leo had ever heard from a human as she started to rise. Although he wished his friend would've of put it a little better, he was correct.

"That wasn't an insult or anything," Grovyle added in an even voice. "Just a fact. Besides, hair looks good on humans and it will look good on you."

"I…" Lonny stopped before kneeling back down in the grassy sand.

"You should just let it grow," Chalesti said from Grovyle's other side. "I bet it'll be the prettiest hair ever!"

"And I've got _lots_ of hair," Blaze said, reaching behind him to grab his long red and yellow mane before shaking it between them. "Hair is pretty cool."

"You're an infernape," Lonny whispered dryly. "You're supposed to have something that looks…" Looking down, she grimaced. "…fiery. Just like I'm supposed to have fins."

"You _still_ have fins." Blaze smiled, barely showing his teeth between his red lips in a display of sincerity.

On a thought, Leo started using his three-fingered hands to gently massage her around her shoulders, hoping to relax her some. She did…only slightly.

Sighing, "I'm sure I'm the only human who was hatched," Lonny said after a moment. "Humans have live births, you know."

"I know," Leo replied, also knowing his partner knew, a consequence of being on Earth among humans for over a year (television was highly instructive). Grovyle of course also knew. But Chalesti looked surprised with her mouth open and forehead furrowing. Even her wings twitched.

"They do?" the pink clefable quickly asked, rubbing one of her long stiff ears. "No eggs?"

"No eggs," he confirmed. "Birth can be rather messy, too." Continuing Lonny's massage, he accidentally touched a sore area, making her wince. "Sorry."

"Do humans always take this long to heal?" Lonny said after untensing again.

He really hated to give her that piece of bad news too, but… "Humans do take longer to heal than Pokémon. But on the other hand, they don't suffer from energy problems. There is no such thing as a human fainting from running out of energy."

"Humans don't have abilities or attacks either," Lonny shot back, but staying still for the massage.

"You're invulnerable to drain attacks," Blaze said in an encouraging tone.

Leo noticed Chalesti quickly digging what looked like a crude notebook and inkwell out of her satchel before opening both. Dipping a small stick into the black ink, she started writing. On realizing everyone staring at her: "Oh, this is fascinating; I never knew any of this about humans! Please go on!"

Lonny snorted.

* * *

Leo grimaced on feeling the sting of several needles from the sandslash's back grazing him as he dodged it's attack. Staying down, he let Blaze release his flamethrower. His partner let it linger for a few seconds longer than normal and when it finally died, there were only tracks left in the sand by the retreating Pokémon. He heard it yell something about revenge just before losing sight of it in the grasses and coastal sand dunes.

He felt bad about having to fight since they were passing through its territory, but since it attacked, they had no choice. At least Blaze's flamethrower probably didn't do it much injury. His water pulse attack would've been far more effective, but since they were now in near-desert conditions he needed to conserve water. As it was, his skin was becoming a lighter blue from the constant dry air blowing around and the sun's intense heat. Sooner or later he was going to need to spend some time in the ocean before they had to turn inland.

Getting back up, he noticed Lonny standing by his human self and Sally, looking sad. Damn. He knew she wanted to help; being human and already battered, she couldn't.

"Leo, I've been wondering more about that map and how we're drawn on it," Blaze said after they got going again. "What if instead of someone seeing the future and drawing us, we instead go back into the past?"

"I had the same thought," Grovyle said, using his two-clawed hand to shade his forehead under the strong sun. "We've all traveled into the past before…or at least my other existence did in my case."

"That would take Dialga," Leo pointed out. "And Celebi can't do five or so thousand years." She couldn't even do three years if transporting more than herself and maybe a couple others, due to something she explained as an exponential drag effect. Not without the help of a…

"Time portal," Blaze said with a tail whip, eerily finishing his thought. "Celebi sent us all back with the help of a time portal."

Grovyle tilted his head slightly, giving the effect of raising an eye-brow. "Ah, right. I remember you mentioning that."

"You think the map is marking a time portal?" Chalesti asked from behind them with some exclamation.

"Just a thought," Blaze said with a backwards glance.

"But Celebi isn't anywhere close to there," Grovyle pointed out. "She's back near…"

"There might be other celebis. Maybe, there's one around there."

Grovyle raised his head, as if surprised. "Um…of course. But I've only met and know of one." He smiled.

Briefly, Leo wondered if Grovyle had managed to meet with her during the few days they spent preparing for this journey. In any case, he had to admit his infernape partner put forth an interesting possibility.

"Hey, I'm not going back in time," Lonny blurted in Poké speech from in front of them, where she was walking with the humans for a while.

"I have to say it isn't something I would look forward to either," Leo confided in rubbing one of his spiky gills, getting agreement from both Blaze and Grovyle. Chalesti remained silent, though she was clearly acting excited.

For the next while until lunch, he thought more about it. A journey going back thousands years was…unimaginable. Was it any less so than someone from back then predicting their existence, though? On the face of it, it seemed a toss-up. A really crazy thought was if they did indeed go back because of the map that one of them drew themselves!

Talk about some circular logic.

In front of him, Lonny's light blue skin was looking rather wet with sweat and he jumped ahead to give her some water from his canteen. Still being new to being human, he was worried she wouldn't recognize that she needed to drink more than swamperts under these very warm conditions. Then until lunch, he stayed beside her, giving a rub against her whenever she looked to need it.

* * *

Leo Hanson got to work as soon as they stopped for lunch and ate. It was getting darned hot under the noon-time sun, but not unbearably so (yet) and only the easy work remained in any event. He was just getting starting in notching the end of the stick when his wife came over.

"I finally figured out last night what you're making," she said. "It's for Lonny, isn't it?"

"Yep," he replied, using the sharp edge of the shaped metal to cut into the stick from one end. Only a simple split was needed, which would also provide the expanded end needed to hold everything in place. Sally stayed to watch for the all of three minutes it took to carefully make the cut and split, during which he managed to cut himself only once. Then, forcing the wedge end of the metal point into the split proved it a tight enough fit.

With Chalesti joining Sally in watching (admittedly, he felt bemused the clefable found this that interesting), he cut a couple-foot piece of nylon rope from the length they had brought and unwound small groups of strands. Sally then helped in holding the stick steady as he wrapped the nylon strands around the end in a alternating wrapping and crisscrossing fashion, securing the metal point to the stick. An attempt to force the metal to move failed, as he had hoped.

Satisfied, he smiled to Sally. "There, done."

"Not just yet," his wife said, surprising him. Curiously, he watched her get up from the sand and walk through the sparse grass to where the other Pokémon and Lonny were resting closer to the narrow beach. Kneeling beside Blaze, she seemed to whisper something to the infernape. A quick conversation ensued with his swampert counterpart translating, then whipping out her pocketknife, she cut off some hair from Blaze's mane. He instantly reached to run his purple fingers through it.

"What is she doing," he asked Chalesti rhetorically. "There's already enough strands holding the point…"

The clefable upturned her three-fingered hands in a shrug. "Cle ma ri ra."

Returning, Sally took the stick and tied one end of the lock just below the point, leaving the other end loose. "Decoration," she said, smiling. "You have to give something like this some character!"

He had to admit it didn't look bad with the lock of red and yellow hair hanging from it.

Naturally his counterpart, Blaze, Grovyle and Lonny were all approaching by this time. Before any of them even had a chance to ask, he handed the finished product to Lonny. "There you are Lonny, you're very own genuine metal-tip spear."

"A what?" she asked, twisting it around slowly in her hands, obviously unsure what to do with it.

"It's a weapon," Leo answered. "Something early humans made and used for hunting and defense."

His counterpart nearly smacked his forehead, "I should have figured that out," bemoaning as Blaze reached over to finger the hair from his mane, saying something in Poké speech.

Leo Hanson continued: "With that, you'll have the means of defending yourself better. Just watch that point, it's very sharp."

"It…could kill," the former swampert said slowly after tapping her finger against the sharp end and quickly jerking it back.

"If you don't want to use that end, use the other without the point." Taking it back for a moment, he demonstrated sticking an imaginary creature with first one end, then poking and whacking with the other. Close to an inch diameter of solid wood, it was certainly hefty enough for thumping someone. "Use whichever end the danger warrants," handing it back to her.

"That was really nice of you," Sally complimented as they sat together afterward, leaving the Pokémon marveling over the newly made weapon. "It just might give her some pride back. She's been pretty depressed."

It was an obvious observation, of course. He felt her lean over and give him a kiss, and he turned to give her a really good one back. Doing such a thing still made his heart race some; she was the most beautiful red-head he'd ever seen, something he felt almost as soon as they had met eight years ago at the University.

Scarcely a heartbeat after they parted: "So, where's mine?"

He fell onto his back with fake objection. "Oh come on. I just finished that one…"

"I'm just kidding," she said, leaning back to join him prone on the sandy ground. "Maybe." Reaching over, she started tugging on his sleeve before poking him.

"Feeling frisky in this heat, are we?" he asked, grinning as he rolled to his side to return some of the pokes. Although it was quite warm on the sand under the full sun, he certainly wasn't going to not play with her. Besides, the ocean wasn't far away, close enough that the waves crashing on the beach were fairly loud.

She just smiled in defending herself. "Just happier. With any luck, Lonny will feel better and we're finally seeing this beautiful planet for the first time." But she stopped playing around as her smile faded. "Leo, I've been thinking about what you said last night."

Damn; he'd been hoping to not think about it for a while. Sighing, "It was just a theory." He hoped.

"No, it makes sense. But if we do end up going back in time, I was just thinking about…you know, Naomi, George and Ticonamo. They're going to try forever to contact us and might never know what happened."

As if a brick fell on him, he realized he hadn't thought of that aspect. "Well…we can't turn around to update the radio message…"

"I know. I guess we just hope that isn't what will happen, or that at least one of us doesn't go back. Still, without Dialga, what are the chances?"

"Celebi and a time portal? My counterpart said that's how they escaped into the past in that other timeline."

"So the map could mark a time portal then," Sally replied thoughtfully. "We probably should let the others know our theory."

Leo hadn't wanted to alarm anyone last night about what he had been thinking. But his wife was right, they should alert them to what they saw as a possibility. Looking back at the group of Pokémon, Lonny seemed to be letting Blaze and Chalesti have turns at trying the spear, the clefable seemingly enthralled with it, while Grovyle even seemed to want to try handling it. His counterpart, though, was approaching them. "Huh, good timing," Leo said quietly to Sally, sitting up with her as the swampert reached them.

"I want to thank you for doing that for her," the other Leo said. "I never thought of making a weapon for her."

"Oh, no problem. Uh…you know there's really no need to thank me."

The swampert smiled, crossing his large arms across his chest. "You don't like being thanked by yourself?"

"Something like that," feeling a hand on his shoulder the same time he saw Sally put her other on his counterpart's.

"You two," she said. "It's been said it's experiences make the man...and Pokémon. There's over four years since that split happened, and a lifetime equivalent of different experiences. "You two are pretty different by now, and I don't mean just the bodies."

"True enough," Leo replied as the swampert nodded his agreement. For a moment, they were awkwardly silent. Then: "There's something I want to tell you…" they both started to say at the same time. "All right, you first," Leo conceded.

The swampert smiled, looked behind him where the other Pokémon (and Lonny) were now playing with the spear. "Well, we were talking about what we might find when we get to the area marked on the map, and we think there are two possibilities. One, someone in the past knew about us and drew us. The second…"

"We travel back in time," Leo finished.

The swampert's eyes widened slightly. "You've already thought of it, then?"

He nodded along with Sally.

"We were thinking about it a lot last night," Sally answered.

"Oh. But, since Dialga isn't around anymore, the only other way we know it could happen is with Celebi using a time portal."

"Yeah, that's what we were thinking too," Leo said. Indicating the others with a hand, "How's Lonny taking this?" If anything more happened to that poor thing…

"She's hoping there's way for her to turn back into a swampert there instead."

"We can hope for that," Sally said.

At once, another thought occurred to him. "Maybe…Dialga…in the past, pulls us back?"

The swampert seemed to regard this for a few heartbeats. Eventually shrugging, "I suppose, maybe, but we discussed that too. He doesn't have that clear a vision of the future that far out he once told us, least not to the detail of seeing individuals. From that long ago, I don't think he could pull us back from the future, even if he wanted."

"But you don't know for sure?"

"Well…I'm not Dialga. Besides, when we first met him, that is after he got his senses back, he didn't act like he ever met us before."

"It's been five thousand or so years. He could've forgot."

His counterpart quickly broke out laughing in his unique swampertish way. After a moment: "We're talking about Dialga, the ruler of time."

"Oh, right." Really, he did mean it as more a joke. Behind his counterpart, he watched Lonny make a mock jab at Blaze who was hopping around, his mane flying behind. But Lonny quickly stopped, groaned and straightened up, holding her side as the other Pokémon rushed to help. "I guess she's still healing," he remarked as his counterpart whipped around at her groan.

"We should get going," the swampert said. "We need to get through the pass to the eastern side by evening."

"Seriously, though, I think want one of those when we get back," Sally said with a grin after his counterpart left.

Now _he_ groaned.

* * *

The pass wasn't that much of one at first; just a low winding path between several high hills of sand and grass. Occasionally, it looked like water flowed through there, but given the desert area that probably didn't happen often. Although he had known about the pass, he, Blaze and Grovyle never actually visited that area of the continent before. Really, it wasn't that large an area, just a place that was sandwiched between some higher hills and the eastern ocean, maybe 20 square miles at best on the other side of the peninsula. And none of them had ever heard anything worth seeing being there. It basically was just empty desert.

The sun was around one-third the way on it's descending arc, and Leo could see ahead that the hills became rocky, higher, and in the distance, the way through appeared to be a narrow gap between two of them where the occasional river went.

"We go through there?" Lonny asked, using her new spear as a walking stick for the moment in helping her balance.

"We do," Chalesti replied.

"Unless we want to go hill climbing," Blaze added with a slight puff of his mane.

Although it definitely looked possible, taking the river bed route looked far easier.

Which didn't mean it was easy. As they got closer, the bed became less sandy and more exposed rock. Most were smooth, having been polished by the occasional running water, but there was the occasional one…

…like the one he just stepped on…forcing him to stop and hold his smarting foot.

"You OK?" Lonny asked, reaching to help him keep balance and just beating Blaze to it.

Leo nodded. "I don't like walking on rocks."

"Swampert feet aren't really designed for this," Chalesti said. "Your partner's feet are better."

"Still prefer the sand, ha ha," Blaze quipped.

"Human feet are best, especially when wearing shoes," Leo added, pointing down at Lonny's feet. Even she had a pair of shoes borrowed from Sally, since Sally was using what she called her hiking ones. He didn't know what the difference was, other then they looked a little heftier.

So it went on the way to the gap. Only four more wounds to his feet was all it took to reach there, although even Blaze and Grovyle suffered one or two. How Chalesti managed to avoid hurting herself he wasn't sure.

At least Lonny's mood was…well, slightly improved compared to the last couple days and even that morning. He wasn't sure if it was because of the spear or that she was getting more used to the idea of being human. Maybe both. She certainly seemed interested in what his human self made for her; every once in a while he saw her running her fingers through the tuff of Blaze's mane tied to the point end, and even practice jabbing the point into some imaginary foe, his human self giving her a couple pointers in that regard, until they reached a point where the canyon seemed to properly start.

As soon as they entered the narrow passage, he didn't like it. Again, it was filled with stones of all sizes, but it was the feeling of not only being watched, but of being at a disadvantage if they got attacked, especially from above.

Looking up, he instantly relieved himself of that worry at least. The sides were too steep for just about any Pokémon to attack from.

"About half-way through," Chalesti announced after what seemed a short while as they arrived at a wider area where four of them could walk abreast.

Leo started to translate when he swore he heard something.

Everyone else stopped too, apparently hearing the same thing.

"What is that?" Sally asked, cocking her head as if straining to hear.

"Sounds like someone walking on the rocks," Blaze answered.

"A lot of someones," Grovyle added.

Indeed, it sounded similar to their own walking, but different in the rate; it was more constant, like there were a lot of feet coming. His heart suddenly pounding, he looked first behind them, then ahead down the passage. The noise was getting louder, but he couldn't figure out from which way. Too many echoes. With slight bends in each direction, their sight was limited too.

"Come on, let's hurry," Grovyle said in a loud whisper, taking the lead as they continued forward.

Leo couldn't argue with trying to get out of there as soon as possible. Their flight through the once again narrow passage hurt his feet more than they ever had been before. Swampert feet just weren't made for rough ground!

It finally became obvious the noise was coming from behind them, since they didn't run into anyone…that was, until they exited on the other side. Grovyle nearly skidded to a stop just beyond where the sides of the passage fell away, and Leo saw why at the same time as everyone else: surrounding them was a contingent of gravelers, sand shrews, and even a couple of onix. Together, they were completely blocking the way in a half-circle going up the sides of the hills around the canyon's exit!

"Back!" Grovyle shouted in starting to herd everyone back the way they came.

Leo took the lead this time, which lasted all of a couple seconds. Right behind them and coming toward the end of the canyon themselves were more Pokémon! He frantically motioned everyone back and into the open as these additional Pokémon exited, revealing themselves to be a trio of gravelers, five sandshrews…and one sandslash that looked familiar…and enraged.

"You!" the sandslash shouted, pointing to him and Blaze in particular. "This is my territory! You not chase me from here!"

"He king!" another of the Pokémon shouted.

"What's going on?" the other Leo asked, clearly alarmed.

Ignoring his other self as his heart raced, Leo did a quick count…and it wasn't good. This time they were outnumbered a good seven to one…including the humans! Even during explorations when they ran into large gangs, they had never been up against such odds! And with several of these Pokémon at mid-evolution…he was not optimistic about their chances. His water pulse would be of great affect, but he didn't have near enough water to take more than a few of them down…assuming they gave him the time to do so! "Did you encounter these guys when you were here before?" asking Chalesti in a hurried whisper.

The grimace on the clefable's face was unmistakable as she rapidly shook her head.

Leo moved with Blaze, Grovyle and Chalesti in a circle around the humans in some effort to protect them, though it likely wasn't going to do much good. He only hoped they wouldn't attack Sally, Lonny and his other self since they clearly weren't Pokémon.

Although the sandslash acted seething and on the verge of attacking, it pointed instead to the heart of the circle. "What are those…creatures?"

"Humans," Blaze shouted back.

Whatever silence there had been among the large Pokémon contingent was now shattered as all of them took to furious whispering. Which lasted for all of one short moment before the sandslash spoke again. "So, such things do actually exist, and they aren't mere legends and rumors. They look…weak. Pathetic!"

"What is it saying?" Leo heard his other self insist.

"You don't want to know," he replied back and really meaning it. In sparing a glance to his mate, Lonny didn't look very inclined to translate either.

"And that one looks…" The sandslash paused, obviously giving her a good looking over from his several-bound distance, "like a half-hatched swampert! What…was your father? A swampert and mother a human?" Which earned him some amount of laughter from the other Pokémon.

Leo gritted his teeth as Blaze hissed next to him. If they weren't so outnumbered, he'd be immediately taking the sandslash down without any hesitation!

"Big words coming from some short back-water shrimp who doesn't know his rear from a hole in the ground!"

All laughter died.

"What are you _doing_?" Leo hissed back to Lonny, horrified she was actually trying to provoke them. It seemed rather obvious that wasn't the smartest thing to do! And when she started walking forward, he tried grabbing her only to have his hand slapped away. Fortunately she stopped just in front of him, giving him a slight amount of relief!

But the sandslash was glaring at her out of the dark depths of his narrowed eyes. "I was going to spare a weak looking creature like you, but now I think I _start_ with you!"

Lonny growled. Pointing at him, "Too late, big boy! I challenge you! And you'll get more than you bargained for!"

"Stop this, Lonny!" Leo half yelled. "What the hell you think you're doing?" He desperately tried grabbing again to pull her back behind him and Blaze, but she wasn't having any of it in rushing out of reach!

His other self and Sally were both half shouting the same questions, but even coming forward they couldn't reach her in time.

"Let me do this!" she hissed in response to all of them, swiping her hand in front of her. Then in an angry whisper: "I've beaten many sandslashes before! At the very least, I'll wear him out so you can take him, Leo. Besides, I have this spear now!"

"Yeah, but…" his human self started to say.

Leo could see what she was getting at, defeat the leader in a one-on-one battle, and maybe the other Pokémon will retreat. And although her logic was sound in trying to wear the sandslash out first, that same logic could also get her killed or very probably seriously injured…as if she wasn't still recovering from the hit she took from the phanpy a couple nights ago! "Lonny, I'm not letting you…"

"I'm doing this, whether you like it or not!" she practically screamed. "I will _not_ be useless anymore!"

It became painfully obvious he wasn't talking her out of it, especially knowing how head-strong she always was. Sure, he could tackle and knock her out, but that would do nothing to improve their current odds. Rather, probably the opposite, and it would then be him hurting her instead of the sandslash. No, he was going to have to let her try and if anything, she was acting exactly as he had learned to expect…if she were still a swampert!

As Lonny moved further out in front, he really hoped whatever medicine Sally had with her would be enough. Or that he could rush in quick enough to protect her when things looked bad, which probably wouldn't be long. A human just couldn't do well against a strong Pokémon like a sandslash, not without a decent weapon, that was. He wasn't too sure a spear fell into that category.

"Tell me when to rush in to protect her," Grovyle whispered behind him, holding himself low in his braced for attack form.

"Me too," Blaze added, his mane puffing and pointed teeth showing.

"I'll do what I can to hold the others off," Chalesti offered.

Leo would've smiled if the situation wasn't so grave. "I'll do the rushing in. The rest of you do what you can against the other Pokémon." He said it in English, so that his other self and Sally would have some idea what was going on without taking the time to explain everything.

"I remember legends about humans," the sandslash said, still practically spitting. "They have no abilities. No power. They needed other Pokémon to protect them. That's what I remember was told." Walking out in front of the others into the middle of the make-shift circle that was formed around them, he started lowering himself. "It'll be no effort teaching you a lesson."

"You'll be the one learning, jerk," Lonny spat back, earning several Ooos from the other Pokémon. Seemingly refining her grip on the spear with both hands, she pointed it straight at him.

"Careful Lonny, he can break it," Leo said as quietly as he could so only she could hear. He hoped. Unfortunately he saw the sandslash smile just slightly. Or was it the grin of someone about to close in for a kill? He tensed, ready to run to her aid…

Then the sandslash ran…straight at Lonny, one arm and claw raised for striking…


	6. Chapter 6: Discoveries

_Reviews or comments…anyone?_

* * *

**Chapter VI: Discoveries**

Lonny jumped sideways, making the sandslash's claw hit nothing but air, before tripping on hitting the ground, but managing to stay standing.

Almost skidding to a stop and kicking up a small cloud of dust, the desert Pokémon whirled around to immediately rush at her for another strike, not giving her any time.

Leo felt his heart leap into his throat when Lonny wasn't as quick in moving, nearly not getting her spear out of the way before the sandslash's claw would've split it. Yet as she continued running and the sandslash whirled around yet again, he saw the reason she lingered. On the side of his face was a thin, red line. Of course, it was the metal end of the spear that had lingered…

The gathered Pokémon voiced surprise with various growls, screeches and yelled insults.

"How's that, spiky boy!" Lonny yelled, her human teeth bared.

The sandslash hissed through his own bared teeth while wiping his slender, tan face. But instead of charging again, he merely started walking toward her. "You die for that! No one touch me!"

"Yeah, well I did and I will again!"

Leo felt both proud and afraid for her; even as a human, she wasn't backing down…despite her extreme disadvantage. And once again, it was just like her: still charging straight in to face whatever challenge was in front of her…no matter the consequences! Of course, she was also used to battling with Christina's help as her trainer. Now…

With apparent caution, the sandslash continued moving in and when he got too close and Lonny moved to one side, quickly cut her off. This continued a few more times, slowly backing her up toward a rock wall as the surrounding Pokémon got out of the way to make room.

"He's trying to corner her!" Blaze whispered urgently.

Apparently sensing the same thing, Lonny suddenly yelled and charged with the spear leading. This time it was the sandslash that jumped and let loose with its claw on the way down. It struck home on Lonny's upper leg.

Leo moved to jump in right then in there, but Lonny only came to a stop and turned, as if nothing had happened. A scratch. Thankfully. But his heart was still pounding from the panic!

Lonny held the snarling sandslash snarled with the spear as she held it closer to her body. Although he charged again, he broke off in a apparent attempt to circle around behind. Staying focused when the sandy-colored beast closed in, she gave a jab while dodging again to the side. The spear struck home…but only into the large quills on the Pokémon's back, while the sandslash's claw again grazed her.

The charge and dodge game continued several more times before the sandslash made a faster-than normal move and swipe before finally stopping. Lonny kept moving to gain a few steps before almost tripping backward. Quickly getting back up, she grimaced while briefly holding her left leg and breathing heavily. The sweat was forming on her quickly.

Leo also grimaced in seeing the streak of blood forming against her light blue skin and within a couple seconds, start running down her leg. Only the sight of several Pokémon watching him kept him in place; obviously if he charged in, he'd instantly have them all on him! At least Lonny didn't look seriously injured…yet. Just a deeper scratch…proving the sandslash was getting more adept against her.

With narrowed eyes, Lonny gave a yell and ran in a half-circle around their foe, giving every appearance she was trying to spear him from the side or behind. But as the sandslash started dodging the point, she came in an extra step, balled her right hand into a fist and punched him, nailing the "king" on the side of his narrow head.

Which had some effect…on both of them. As the sandslash went to all fours briefly, Lonny was suddenly cradling her hand. Unfortunately the former recovered first and the later reacted too late. In a heartbeat, Leo watched in horror as the former swampert took a head-butt that leveled her, leaving her obviously stunned and vulnerable.

"Puny human-thing die!" the sandslash said. Standing just a leap away, his claws started glowing.

He couldn't wait any longer! "I'm going," Leo breathed to both Blaze and Grovyle, already preparing the water for a water-pulse in his mouth.

* * *

Leo Hanson tensed, looking around desperately for any way to help. Lonny was about to get seriously hurt or worse. If he went charging in, he might momentary surprise the sandslash, but when the other Pokémon would come rushing in, that'd be it. Well…he got the big sense that was going to happen anyway.

"Ohwhatthehell," he breathed to beside him to Sally. Maybe the element of surprise would have a bigger effect than he should hope for.

Only his swampert counterpart beat him to the rushing in part…at least for a couple steps. Apparently some of the other Pokémon had been expecting it as an onix skidded it's body right in front of all of them! The swampert tried leaping over its massive body of connected rocks and boulders, but was knocked back by a trio of sandshrews and a graveler.

Leo watched the blue body of his counterpart fall back to the rocky ground on all fours while both Blaze and Grovyle leapt up to continue the attack, Chalesti behind them moving quickly to hit one of the flanks.

Then, _everyone_ stopped, some with mouths agape.

"What's…" Sally started to say.

Whatever caused it was on the other side of the onix, where he and Sally couldn't see. And where Lonny and the sandslash were battling. Racing to look over one of the narrower parts of the onix's body, his own jaw dropped and Sally gasped.

The sandslash's claws were still glowing with their infused energy, poised a couple feet above Lonny. No…the claws had been stopped…by a weakly glowing sphere around Lonny!

"That's…protect!" Sally said. "That's a Pokémon's protect move!"

Lonny's wide-eyed expression looked as surprised as anyone. But her mouth quickly formed a grin, "Guess I have a surprise or two," the mostly human but obviously still part swampert said. With a grunt, she thrust herself to her feet, forcing the sandslash back from the mostly transparent but impenetrable wall just before it faded.

The sandslash hissed something as its claws ran out of energy and their glow faded. Picking up her spear, Lonny resumed pointing it at their sandy colored Pokémon opponent. "I'm not as human as you thought, eh?"

The sandslash backed up several steps, seemingly with a look of borderline horror. Screaming something, carefully moved around Lonny in a wide berth before scrambling into the passage, several smaller Pokémon following.

The onix started moving too and Leo grabbed Sally to move her back, both Blaze and Grovyle jumping off. Within just mere moments, all the gang Pokémon had retreated either back through the passage or up into the surrounding hills.

"What…just happened?" Sally asked, more with a look to Lonny than anyone.

"They got scared and ran off," Lonny replied, limping and wincing with each step as she tried to rejoin them and eventually held her one leg with the deep scratch.

With everyone else, he raced to her, taking her spear and repositioning it so she would use it as a walking stick.

"You used a Pokémon move!" his counterpart said after taking her arm and holding her steady. "You really are still part Pokémon! But you're hurt."

Lonny wrapped an arm around his neck, just smiling. "Guess I really can still battle."

Blaze and Grovyle said something in Poké speech to her with Chalesti just watching, seemingly intrigued.

Together with his swampert counterpart, they got the former swampert to a nearby rock. Then after unpacking the first aid kit and giving to Sally, Leo moved away to give them privacy as she helped Lonny partly out of her clothes, revealing some fresh bruises on her one hip and more of the nasty looking cut on her right leg. He really hoped it wouldn't require stitches, although they did have the needle and thread for it if needed; the first aid kit they'd packed before leaving Earth contained more than most kits. After all, the nearest hospital for humans was many light-years away!

Although his counterpart and Blaze stayed around Lonny, Grovyle and Chalesti joined him many paces further down the widening canyon. "I wonder if she can do all her attacks," he said, not really to either of them in particular while looking into the distance. Just a little further, the canyon widened to the point of completely disappearing into a sea of sand. Other large hills or sand dunes were in the extreme distance. Even the air smelled dry.

"Gro..yle ra serga."

He patted the back of his green friend, who although was currently living with his counterpart and Blaze, knew he remained loyal still for which he would always be grateful. Another thought occurred to him, though: "I wonder if the reason she was depicted on the map, was because whoever drew it knew we would need her. I'm guessing it was the surprise of Lonny, a human, using protect was what drove them off. If she hadn't been here…"

On the other side of him, Chalesti leaned to one side, like cocking her head. "Fabba cle?"

Grovyle responded, also ending in a high inflection to indicate a question.

Yet another aspect to consider to the current puzzle.

* * *

"Just wished I could'a really stuck it to him," Lonny said, walking and sometimes slightly limping beside him.

Leo gave a gentle pat on her shoulder, one of the few places that wasn't bruised or otherwise hurting on her. Fortunately she hadn't been seriously hurt…yet. "Lonny, I don't want you doing any more fighting." He felt her put her pale yellow and green eyes on him, half expecting a fight.

"Christina made me learn Protect. I didn't want to, thought it was useless; I prefer to pound my opponents into submission. But it was the thing I thought of when that damned beast came at me with those glowing claws. But if I can use that…"

Leo watched her puff her mouth out, as if preparing for a water pulse. But all that came out a few seconds later was some spit. Next she held up her fist, but nothing happened after a moment.

She cursed in Poké speech, getting both Blaze's and Grovyle's attention. "Of all the ways I could use energy before, the only way I'm left with _would_ be that worthless Protect."

"Didn't seem that worthless to me," Blaze said from the other side of her. "It won you that fight! And at least you still have some energy to use."

"But only for a Protect?" Lonny shot back.

"It's one move more than you thought you had," Leo furthered. "And by beating that leader, you probably saved all of us some serious hurt. So that means your plan worked, even better than you thought."

She grunted dismissively before kicking a small rock to out in front of them.

Something humans did, he noted. Perhaps slowly, she was picking up some of their habits, even though she clearly retained more Pokémon traits than just her mere appearance. He patted her again, lingering his hand enough to rub her back. She in turn rubbed one of his head fins which felt good.

Out front of all of them, Chalesti was leading them up a small semi-rocky hill that was otherwise sand-covered.

"Why are we going up this hill?" Blaze asked, looking back at Lonny with some concern.

"How are you doing?" Leo asked her. Though her leg wasn't hurt too badly, it clearly was causing her pain.

"I can make it up there," she replied with a grimace, determination in her tone as she leaned more on her spear in using it as a walking stick.

He wondered how truthful she was being. "We can wait here," he suggested, hoping she would take it. It was also quite warm, now that they were in the desert proper, and since she was now human…

"No," she replied simply, firmly, tightening her grip on the spear as she planted it roughly and used it to get over a tiny rock ridge.

"We need to get up high to get a good look around," Chalesti said in turning partly to face them. "We need to find a particular hill."

Leo translated it for his human self and Sally, though they acted like they had already guessed the reason.

To his relief, the trek up didn't take long and from the vantage afforded in the mid afternoon sun, it became clear they were on the side of a large, partially bowl-shaped valley. Many dune-like hills rose from the floor and stretched off into the distance, where he thought he could just make out the haze of the ocean.

Chalesti quickly brought out the map and uncoiled it enough to reveal the detail of the area. "This is the hill we're looking for."

With everyone else, Leo peeked at the circle that had everyone except Chalesti depicted around it. Inside was drawn four hills, each with a unique shape and the one in the center having a small "X" on it. Presumably their target.

Problem was, as he shaded his eyes with a large blue hand to look over the landscape, there were more than four hills in the large valley. Many more. Far as he could tell, there were at least twenty or thirty hills or peaks of varying heights before the ocean. Of course it was difficult to tell shapes from the edge of the valley like they were, but nothing immediately was jumping out at him as being in the correct configuration.

His human self and Sally both glanced several times between the map and the landscape before one or the other sighed. "I think we need to get to a hilltop in the middle of this area and look from there," his human self suggested.

Leo agreed, Blaze and Grovyle also nodding acceptance with him. But although there was at least a few hours of good daylight left for traveling, he worried about Lonny despite what she claimed. "I think after what happened today, we should camp at the bottom of this hill. We can get to the middle tomorrow." It earned a stare from his mate, but he also didn't get any argument. In fact, it was Sally who pointed out Lonny needed rest.

"I'm fine!" the light blue-skinned human shot back.

"Maybe if you were still a swampert," Sally replied, hands on her hips and looking a bit worn herself. "As a human, being injured you need rest, so stop being stubborn!" Lonny's face instantly flashed anger, but Sally didn't give her a chance to speak: "Listen to your friends, especially Leo and I. We're humans too and we know what we're talking about! And we're dead tired."

He wished Sally hadn't put it like that, meaning so bluntly, but…maybe Lonny needed to have it shoved in her face like that in order to listen. Certainly didn't make for a pleasant trip back down the hill, but his mate eventually softened once they started making camp. And after they gathered some of the scarce brush to make a campfire and sat around it as the evening air cooled, she was soon asleep next to him, long before anyone else shut their eyes.

"She was more exhausted than she let on," Blaze whispered. "I think we really need to look after her more, Leo; she's still not used to everything."

Grovyle nodded while fiddling with one of his wrist blades. "She isn't the tough swampert anymore and she can't act keep acting like one. She's more vulnerable then she wants to admit still."

They were absolutely right, and he doubled his resolve to not let her do any more fighting, especially while she was healing. Between translating Poké speech into human words (mostly between Chalesti and the humans), he gathered Lonny next to him to cradle an arm around her. Sooner or later, she needed to come to grips with her limitations. Otherwise she was just going to continue to get hurt, Protect or no Protect.

For a while after everyone else laid down, he listened to her deep, slow breathing next to his face. At some point she curled into a fetal position and he readjusted the blanket over her; it was the desert and it would only get colder until morning. Unfortunately his swampert body would only allow him to wrap himself around her so much, which wasn't much at all, but he did his best. And although she was taller than him (both as her former swampert self and now especially as a human), she now felt slight against him. Humans didn't have the same body mass as swamperts, though she wasn't a weak human from what he'd seen. Still, compared to many Pokémon… If it ever came to it, he would lay down his life for her…just like he would for Blaze or Grovyle, or Sally and or his human self.

It was almost with a smile he realized if he and Lonny were to battle now, he'd easily win. Of course, she was his mate and such a battle wasn't ever going happen. In fact, with her warmth next to him he thought of better things. And of those things, he wondered what they were going to do. Obviously any more eggs was out of the question, and there were a few problems of the purely anatomical variety too. Even if they could work something out, there just felt something…unnatural about it, different species of Pokémon doing it notwithstanding.

He sighed mentally. Despite being fully Pokémon physically and still lacking most his human memories, he actually could see himself with either a Pokémon or a human. Well, a _special_ human, at any rate. Like someone he had loved as a human and never really lost that feeling. If Sally and his other self hadn't gotten together…

His situation was rather unique, obviously…as was Lonny's now. She wasn't _totally_ a human, both physically and mentally, just like he retained some human mental traits and a smaller body size (presuming being a former human being the reason for that).

Perhaps in one major sense, they were now more alike than ever.

* * *

Leo Hanson shaded his eyes from the late morning sun, despite his sunglasses and cap, while looking in all directions. From the top of the hill they had all guessed was the center of the semi bowl-shaped desert valley, he saw no pattern of hills matching what the ancient map showed. It was evident the problem was that many of the hills were really temporary dunes, like the one they were standing on. Further, most of the other hills and ridges had quantities of sand around them or over them, altering their shapes or making them appear as dunes. One thing the detail on the map made clear, was each of the four hills had a unique shape, and none appeared to be the typical dune-shaped. He almost wondered if the area hadn't been somewhat wetter thousands of years before and not strictly desert.

In any case, it was little wonder the clefable had trouble.

She said something in the indecipherable-to-humans Poké speech, and his swampert counterpart translated the question as if any of them could see the location.

"Sorry, I don't," Sally answered, holding the map against the sometimes gusty warm wind that sometimes carried some finer sand and dust.

The other Pokémon seemed to answer after that, presumably with similar answers.

After what seemed a depressed silence, he sighed in realizing what their first task was going to have to be. "I think we're going to have to draw a new map. We need to go to each and every hill and dune and find out if it's really a hill or a dune."

Sally was nodding, rolling up the map to hand back to Chalesti. "And once we have that, we can try and match up the pattern of the four hills, since we probably won't be able to know the hills' true shapes anymore."

She stared back at him as he nodded, her instructions being just what he was getting to. In absence of the shapes, the placement of the hills was the only other thing they could go by. Obviously she had already thought it out like he had, and it was one of the reasons he loved her.

Still, the task of checking several dozen hills over a perhaps twenty square mile area was going to take some time, probably on the order of a couple or three days. Which brought up a worry. "How much water do we have left?" He watched Blaze reach for the canteens on the sides of their packs while his counterpart did the same for the ones in their satchels. From the weak sloshing as they were shaken, he didn't need any verbal response.

"Sounds like a couple days at most," Sally said, "but in this heat…"

Chalesti said something excitedly while pointing north.

"She says she found a spring the last time she was here, toward the north along the wall of hills there," his counterpart translated.

Roughly two or three miles he thought, assuming the distances weren't too deceptive as he peered north. So at least water wasn't a concern. For food, they still had some berries they last harvested a couple days ago, which meant overall they had about a week. The ocean not being far away, they could try and obtain some fish there, though he wasn't too sure how the Pokémon would react to eating some sea Pokémon.

Another worry crossed his mind in watching Lonny leaning on the spear, apparently taking some of the weight off her injured right leg. She didn't seem too bad on the walk to the hill that morning, but with the pounding she'd taken during the trip so far, he knew she could use more rest. Just that she wasn't having any of it. Being used to a swampert's body though, he felt she was pushing her human one too hard. As a general rule, human bodies weren't as tough as most Pokémon bodies, and swamperts in particular were tough even by Pokémon standards.

But…it was his counterpart's job to deal with her. And in any case, first things first.

With his counterpart picking the northern border of the valley to start so as to refill their canteens, they trudged down the dune to begin mapping the area.

"After we refill, maybe we should split into teams to map the area more quickly," his counterpart suggested after a couple moments.

"That's a good idea," Sally replied. "Me, Leo, Grovyle and Chalesti in one team, you, Blaze and Lonny in the other."

The teaming sounded good Leo thought, with two Pokémon in each team to help protect the humans and agreement soon went all around to meet at the center hill by afternoon the next day after they split up. Great, maybe they could avoid having to eat some magicarp after all. The flip side was they were more likely to find sooner whatever it was that awaited them.

Was that good or bad?

* * *

Leo grabbed Lonny's arm, helping her up a particularly steep, rocky stretch of one of the hills in the eastern half of the valley, nearest the ocean. It was obvious this particular hill wasn't a dune, but he hoped they could get a sense of its shape as well as get an updated bearing.

As soon as they reached the top, Lonny took out the small paper and pencil his human self had given her, laid it on top of one of the satchels, and started drawing the location on the map with Blaze's help.

Writing was new to her. As a swampert, she said she'd paid little attention when Christina or Harry wrote or drew things on paper. At least the only thing she needed to draw now was the approximate shape of the hill, which he checked out by going to each side to see if there was rock or just sand.

Of course, it was something they weren't supposed to check out, just the location of each "real" hill as best they could. But they had been making good time since they split into two teams the previous day, so why not? This was already one of the last hills, meaning they would easily be back at the center hill (or dune, rather) by noon. Which given the heat the desert proved to have the previous day, he was glad for. Giving a glance to the ocean which didn't look that far away, he wished their target was near it instead of obviously inland. After a couple days of nothing but dry, hot air, he could really use a soaking in it's cool water!

Turning back to his mate after she finished the drawing, "How's the leg?" asking for what he was sure was the hundred time since yesterday. If there was one thing he was determined about, it was that she wasn't going to get hurt anymore!

"It's _still_ fine," Lonny replied, matter-of-factly.

At least she didn't sound as tentative as yesterday.

"It's time for a snack," Blaze announced with a quick twitch of his tail…and a slight growl from his stomach. Without further comment, he broke out some hard bread and handed each of them a piece.

Lonny nearly gulped it as they got going to the next hill and had to take a long drink from her canteen as she nearly choked. Between more munches: "What if we find the location and there's nothing there?"

Leo exchanged a glance with Blaze. That was certainly a possibility…

The infernape's mane puffed a little, despite the steady light breeze coming from the ocean. "That'd be disappointing. We would be left with only the mystery of who drew that map and us on it."

"And I'll be left with this body forever," Lonny added, popping the last bit of bread in her waiting mouth. Without warning, she turned to the side, whipping her spear to point at a small boulder near them.

Behind it, Leo could just see the tip of a small tail. "It's just a rattata."

She relaxed, enough to take another long drink from her canteen. "I've never been this hot," she exclaimed with a pant. "It's already hotter than yesterday. I never knew it was like this for humans."

"That's why you're drinking so much," Leo replied. "Humans sweat a lot to keep themselves cool."

"Humans aren't the only ones," Blaze added, taking a drink from his own canteen and finishing with a wipe across his mouth from the hair-covered back of his hand.

Lonny finally broke down in putting the "loner" pair of sunglasses on against the growing brightness of the sun as it continued marching overhead. Leo was careful to hide his smirk. With sunglasses, she looked like some mean light-blue skinned creature you didn't want to tangle with. Actually, her skin was a little darker blue than it had been, perhaps with a hint of brown to it. Was she getting a tan?

After two more hills, they arrived at the central dune-hill just as the sun reached zenith…and he was surprised to find Grovyle, Chalesti, Sally and his human self already waiting for them! And his other self just _had_ to ask "What took you guys so long?"

He felt like smacking the human.

After just a few words, most of which was Chalesti wanting her question translated of what "hotter than Hades" meant, they wasted little time in bringing the two working maps together. Since each group worked off one grid, the scales were the same, making the entire thing comparable.

"Now…" his human self said in uncoiling the old map from Chalesti, with Blaze and Grovyle holding the working maps on the ground against the now ever present light breeze. "…let's see what matches."

Leo anxiously looked between the old and new maps like everyone else in looking for a similar alignment of hills, minus all the dunes to confuse things. Although a couple sets looked close, one group of four actually appeared dead on. And it was close to where they were, but on the eastern half.

"We were just sitting on that hill this morning, ha ha!" Blaze exclaimed.

"So that means that's where the "X" is!" Chalesti said with a beaming smile as she pointed to the said hill that was less than a mile to the east. "Let's go!"

Leo translated all that to mixed reactions.

"How about we rest a little first?" Grovyle suggested, letting his dark green tongue hang out while trying to shade his face from the sun.

The clefable started to protest. "But, it's so close…"

Grovyle hissed. "It's been there for five thousand years; I doubt it's going anywhere in the next couple hours!"

"I could really use a bath at that spring first," Leo heard his human self comment.

"Me too," Sally added with a weary smile.

For himself, Leo could already imagine the cool wetness soaking his parched skin and fins, while Grovyle voiced wanting one just to cool down.

"I'll take one," Lonny said, taking yet another drink from the canteen, which sounded close to empty…

"Ahhh…" Chalesti started to whine. "Well, OK. A bath does sound nice."

Leo translated the Pokémon's answers.

The eyes of both his human self and Sally widened. "Well…" the red head started replying as she fought to keep her hair out of her eyes. "How about we go in turns?"

"Um…why?" Chalesti asked, her brow furrowing in question. "That'll just take longer, won't it?"

"I think you should explain it," Blaze said with a smirk.

Leo sighed, noting Lonny shaking her head with a mumbled "It's stupid".

* * *

In the late afternoon light, Leo Hanson stood before the hill that was hopefully the one the map indicated. There seemed nothing out of the ordinary about it. Half buried by sand, it appeared to be of sandstone and limestone and somewhere around two or three hundred yards along its slightly elongated base, maybe thirty high at its peak. Again, compared to the other hills in that desert, nothing about it stood out. But by its position, it was the one marked by the map's "X".

"I've never really been to a desert before," Sally said beside him. "It looks pretty in this light."

"Magic hour," Leo mumbled.

Blaze said something that in tone seemed the equivalent of a "Huh?"

"Photography term," Leo explained. "Means the first or last hour of daylight when the light is golden…almost magical; when the light is just right for making the best photos." After a questioning stare from his wife, "Photography was a hobby for me years ago."

"I didn't know that," Sally replied, then leaned on him for a moment. "Now that we're here, I wonder if something magical _will_ happen."

He shrugged, sensing Chalesti was chomping at the bit to get exploring. Traveling to the northern spring, everyone taking a (cool and refreshing) bath, and getting back took most the remaining afternoon, basically leaving them with enough daylight to set up camp and fix something to eat. "If you want to look around Chalesti, Sally and I can set up camp and get some food going," he offered.

The clefable smiled, giving an excited yip from her small mouth before running partway up the hill.

"She's too excited," his counterpart commented.

"She's waited a long time to find whatever it is," Sally replied while beginning to dig in her pack already.

Unlike the other nights, there was the potential for them remaining there for several days, though that really didn't change much; just a couple sleeping bags, a fire ring, and blankets for the Pokémon. Nothing that wouldn't take over five minutes to pack again. The pot, plates and eating utensils they packed after every use anyway.

The sun was below the horizon and the fire just glowing before Chalesti returned. Blaze asked her something to which she replied in a negative tone.

"Didn't find anything?" Leo asked.

She shook her head.

"Saved you some soup," Sally said, handing her a bowl.

Taking it, the clefable started gulping immediately, proving her hunger that she somehow kept at bay to put exploring first.

"If it isn't obvious from the outside, then it's either buried under the sand around the base or it's inside."

Leo looked to his wife. "Assuming there really is something to be found after all these years."

"So I guess we start digging tomorrow."

"It's a big hill," Leo warned, pointing to said feature beside them, and getting nods from every Pokémon present. He watched his wife smile and reach to the nearest pack to pat one of the two collapsible shovels they'd brought. Still, he could tell she wasn't serious about just blindly digging the entire hill. Even so, he didn't look forward to it. "We just have to figure out where to start digging."

"Glad we have two humans along who can do that," his counterpart said, just settling himself down next to Lonny. Obviously, the former swampert shouldn't be helping much until her leg healed more.

"You know, there is at least one Pokémon here who has the right anatomy to use a shovel," Sally returned with a smirk, reaching around him to give a pat on Blaze's back.

"Rraow ferna gra na ape!"

"If I didn't know better, I would say the infernape doesn't sound too happy about that," Leo teased. He looked to his counterpart for the translation as Blaze's mane puffed out slightly.

"Let's just say, a shovel is a human tool, best used by humans," the swampert finally said, in a quite tactful tone.

"Nice try, little monkey," Sally countered, giving Blaze another pat before playfully grabbing the end of his tail.

The only reaction from the red, white and yellow haired infernape was him collapsing to his back with a groan as the other Pokémon laughed.

Leo laughed too while putting a little more of the precious brush they'd gathered on the fire to counter the growing darkness. The moon was rising in the east and just peaking just over the hill, creating a nice contrast between its silvery light and the dark reddish hue the hill had taken on in the last of the twilight and from the fire.

Here and there in the distance, the semi-musical sounds of crickets and kricketots drifted through the finally still air, nearly mimicking a nice evening on Earth, and proving for the third night in a row that the valley wasn't as devoid of other Pokémon as their eyes lead them to believe.

"So…" the swampert said in breaking the silence that had fallen on them. "Chalesti wanted me to ask you something before," getting a full-body nod from the clefable.

"What?"

The swampert formed a wry expression across his broad face. "Why do humans wear clothes?" After the clefable appeared to ask something more: "What purpose or purposes does it serve?"

The question took him unexpectedly, and after some more (uncomfortable) silence: "And you can't tell her?" he countered. His counterpart could have answered that easily! So could Blaze, or even Grovyle!

"I thought I would let a human tell her."

He swore the swampert was suppressing a smirk as he closed his green eyes while Chalesti quickly whipped out her notebook and looked on expectantly. Other side of the fire, Lonny just laid on her stomach, bracing her chin on her hands, Grovyle followed suit before resting his head on a forearm and saying something before closing his eyes also. Blaze was…still on his back, though his tail seemed to twitch nervously.

"Sally and I already had this conversation with Lonny," his counterpart furthered.

"Your turn," Sally added with a gentle poke to his side as Lonny just smiled, staring at him.

Great. With the evening suddenly feeling much warmer: "Alright, it's because humans are anatomically different. That's why." It was apparently the answer wasn't what anyone was expecting.

"Cop out," Sally whispered with a smile.

* * *

His body ached. Several nights of sleeping on mostly hard ground with nothing but a sleeping bag as cushioning was taking its toll, Leo Hanson thought in getting up. Sally wasn't complaining, though she got up a little slowly herself beside him. Sure, placing their sleeping bags over some sand would've been softer, but it would've been hell trying to get it out of everything.

With breakfast a quick affair of dried berries, he was soon standing in front of the hill once again with everyone else and wondering where to start. And the sooner the better. With the sun already an hour above the horizon, it was going to get hot again quickly and it'd be sensible (for once) for them to rest during that part of the day.

The clefable uttered something in indecipherable speech that sounded like various random syllables mixed with grunts, growls, hisses, or whatever else the particular Pokémon's mouth was suited for making.

"She says we should look for anything that looks out of the ordinary," Leo translated as usual.

"No kidding," Lonny replied almost sarcastically.

"It _would_ help if we knew what we were looking for," Sally added.

Thinking back to last night: "Maybe a doorway?" Leo suggested. Sally nodded as the Pokémon glanced back at him.

"Maybe," his counterpart said, Blaze and Grovyle each adding something, though nodding in apparent agreement. Then wasting no more time, they split into the same teams as a couple days ago, with each started going around the hill in opposite directions.

"Maybe it'll be some carvings or paintings," Sally said in pausing to look something over that on further inspection, proved to be nothing but dried grass in a large crack.

"Something like petroglyphs?" Leo suggested, wondering what such would look like if drawn by Pokémon.

"Yeah, like those in the American Southwest or the Sahara."

"Fab le Celba gama ra e?"

Glancing at Chalesti, he instinctively waited for his counterpart to translate…but of course the swampert wasn't with them. And Grovyle couldn't help, although his partner said something to her which seemed to answer her question after drawing in the air something resembling the African continent.

Sometimes he forgot she was the only member of their group who hadn't been to or from Earth.

The rest of their trip around the hill proved fruitless and on meeting up with the others, his counterpart basically said the same.

"Now what?" Lonny asked. "Maybe that map is wrong and there really is nothing here. Maybe it was a joke."

"That would piss me off," Sally mumbled, eyebrows narrowed, hands on hips and getting yet another look from Chalesti. Sighing, "Let's try going up on top."

The view from thirty meters above the desert floor changed their perspective more than he would've imagined. Yet there still seemed nothing out of the ordinary about the rocky hilltop amid the widely scattered brush and grass as he wandered around, trying not to trip on the loose rocks everywhere. Eventually he wandered over to his counterpart and Lonny.

Raising his large blue and green arms in apparent exasperation, "I don't see anything here," the swampert said. "Maybe it's buried under all that sand around the bottom?"

"That'll be a lot of digging if we don't know where to start," he replied, seriously not relishing the thought.

"I'll dig for a year if I can be a swampert again," Lonny added, folding her light blue arms across her chest.

"Come on, being a human isn't that bad," Leo countered, getting a huff from the former swampert. Gazing down the slope, the areas where the wind-blown sand easily covered a story and a half of the base seemed more extensive than from below. Sighing, he looked to his wife, finding her near the center of the top…lost in thought, apparently. In joining her, he nearly tripped again on some of the loose rock to send it sliding down the slope.

"Leo," Sally said, kneeling to pick up one of the said rocks. "What seems different about this rock, compared to all the other hills we were on?"

Taking the hand-size piece of slightly reddish sandstone she handed him, he shrugged. With sharp edges, it looked like it had been broken off of some larger piece, which really described just about all the rock around them. "What do you mean?"

Spreading her arms, "Look around here. There's a lot of it, a lot of loose rock. The other hills had a little, but they were all a lot cleaner than this. It's almost like this was broken from somewhere, then just piled up here." Pointing down the slope, "Down there too. In fact, all around."

With her new insight, he looked around again, seeing instantly what she meant. This hill was literally littered with broken rock everywhere…for no apparent reason. "Almost like it was, maybe quarried out?"

"I'm guessing from inside this hill," she said with a slight smile.

"So there really _could_ be a doorway or entrance somewhere." He felt his heart quicken on finding their first evidence that their theory might be correct, and wasted little time in scampering over to his counterpart and Lonny to relay what they discovered.

"Then Blaze better get his tail digging," Lonny replied, gazing over to where the infernape was with Grovyle on the southern side of the hilltop.

The former swampert certainly had a way with words, Leo thought as they walked the few dozen yards to them, with a nearly commanding quality. He had to ask his counterpart sometime if such a tone went hand-in-hand with being a (former) strong, powerful Pokémon.

Blaze only glanced at them as they approached; most of his and Grovyle's attention was focused on something on the slope below. On getting close enough, both of them quickly conversed something with his counterpart and Lonny.

Finally being able to look down himself, Leo really couldn't see at first what they were interested in. Then when Blaze pointed his purple finger, tracing it, he couldn't miss it.

"It almost looks like a square cut out from up here," Sally said, moving to the side to get a different view.

Further down the slope and just barely sticking above the sand, there appeared the rough outline of three sides of a square, perhaps six by four feet, like it had been chopped out of the hill. "You're right."

"Ug, why didn't we see this from below?"

"Different viewpoint," Leo answered with a shrug.

"We dig there then," Lonny said, suddenly grabbing the shovel off Sally's pack and thrusting it at Blaze. "You and the humans will be working together."

The infernape scowled, narrowing his eyes and giving his tail a wide whip.

"Well _somebody_ here is sure taking command," Sally said with a hint of a smile.

"I want my body back, damnit," the light blue-skinned human replied sharply before facing Blaze again, "The rest of us will be helping too. Just that we don't have shovels, but we have hands and claws. We all work together. It'll be faster."

"_You_ still need to take it easy," his counterpart said, gently sticking a large blue finger against her side and making her wince.

"Hush," she said after quickly backing up from her mate. But at least she was smiling. "I'm helping."

Leo just shook his head and looked up at the sun briefly, which was still uncomfortable despite the sunglasses. He really did hope Lonny wasn't going to be disappointed if they didn't find anything that would help her. Not that she wasn't pretty as a human. "Well, it's late morning. We could start on some digging, but we'll need to stop in about an hour or two and rest during the hottest part of the day." Not that it wasn't pretty darn hot already.

"Clebba ye?" Chalesti called, finally joining them from the other side of the hilltop. After the other Pokémon apparently explained what they found, she jumped slightly and without further word, ran down the hill to immediately commence digging with her bare hands.

"Guess that's the signal to get to work," Leo said, almost subconsciously reaching for his canteen to get a drink before the hard work ahead.

* * *

"I hate this shovel, Leo. I can do better with my hands! Ha ha."

Leo looked to his partner, who was bent over more than usual with shovel in hand, just tossing yet another shovelful of loose tan-colored sand as far as he could away from the hill. It was Blaze's first time using one, even though he helped a lot in building the house for his human self and Sally.

Since it was loose sand, using his foot to drive the blade in wasn't necessary, so if anything it should have been easier for him to use considering like all Pokémon, he was barefoot. But again given it was loose sand, not much fit on the small blade at a time, most of it spilling off before he could throw aside.

"Be glad you don't have thumbs," the infernape continued quietly, sticking the shovel in deep to move a larger amount…to no avail. "Blast!"

"I'm sure if I did have thumbs, my other self would be making the _two_ of us do _all_ the shoveling," saying it in human speech so the mentioned person would hear it.

"Darned right I would be," his other self said on cue, grinning. "Both of you are a lot stronger than I am!"

"Tell that to my back!" Leo shot back, putting a large hand behind him by his rear fin to make the point. Seriously, it was getting tired back there! Compared to using a shovel, using one's hands certainly couldn't have been any better. In his case, his were slowly turning from blue to tan, not to mention bone-dry with the sand sucking pretty much every drop of moisture out of them. Pretty soon, they'd be cracking. He was going to need some serious soaking that evening, if only by putting his hands in the one large bowl they had after filling it with some of their precious water.

Speaking of which… Grabbing one of the canteens, he took a long drink before bringing it over to his sweating partner who gratefully took it, he guessed not just for the water but for the break. Lonny was being a task master ever since they started, though she was digging and flinging the dirt almost like a poochyena digging a burrow in a most fanatical fashion, despite her obvious fatigue.

Very much like Chalesti was.

"We're all going to need baths again," Blaze said after recapping the canteen and wiping his red brow, the sweat nearly dripping off his face despite the evaporation. As it was, the white hair on the sides of his face and forehead was soaked, with sand sticking just about everywhere else. The humans looked about the same. At least Lonny didn't have much in the way of hair quite yet, though her skin was shiny where it wasn't caked with sand or dust. He quickly brought her the canteen next and she started guzzling.

A sound of one of the shovels hitting something very solid rang out, getting everyone's attention. "Rock!" his human self called out.

With everyone else, he and Blaze jumped in and started using their hands to move as much sand away from the top as quickly as possible. After several minutes they'd uncovered the tip of what was apparently a large pile of rocky rubble. Considering they were still many feet above the bottom of the hill, they assumed the pile was that high, with whatever they were after behind said pile.

"God damn," his human self said, staring between the rock and the bottom of the hill. "Ten feet of this."

"Then time for lunch and a long break," Sally said between huffs and already on the way down, looking spent. "Come on Lonny, we're getting the rest of our stuff from the other side of the hill and bringing it here."

"Hey, we can still get more of this sand…"

"Lonny! We need a break!" Sally shouted back, even more commanding than the former swampert.

Lonny seemed to recoil and looked to him, seemingly for support. Leo wasn't giving it, not this time; Sally was right, they were all tired after going hard for a hour under the hot desert sun, and he was sure none of them was going to feel up to doing anything for at least a few hours, humans and Pokémon both.

"I'll go help," Grovyle said, panting as he straightened up from his knees, but jumping down to the ground nonetheless, his long head leaf almost flying.

"I'll keep moving this sand until they get back," Chalesti said after watching the trio leave for the western end of the hill.

"Aren't you tired?" Blaze asked, briefly shaking his head and getting some of the sand out of his long mane, before using his hands on his lower legs where his long white hair had long since become sand-colored.

To help with the sand, Leo started brushing some of it out of the white hair of his back with his large fingers. Since his hands were long since depleted of any moisture anyway…

"You just have to pace yourself," Chalesti replied with a smile on her pink face. After a short moment, "Lonny is more determined to get inside than I am. Do you really think there might be a way for her to turn back into a swampert in there?"

Leo shrugged along with Blaze. "I sure hope so, but I really have no idea." His partner flinched as his one finger caught on a tangle in his back-draping mane. "Sorry."

"What is she going to do if there isn't?" his partner asked grimly, whacking his tail tip against his side and knocking more sand from it.

He grimaced. His mate apparently had built up a fair amount of hope around the slight possibility. He wasn't optimistic she would withstand it if there wasn't so much as a clue to reversing her change. Likewise, he didn't feel optimistic there would be anything there to help her either. "What am I going to tell her if we don't find anything, Blaze? She won't take it well." He saw his partner's back sag in a sigh more than he heard it. "Humans have a saying about crossing a bridge when they come to it, I think."

"They do?" Chalesti asked suddenly, stopping her digging.

Now Leo sighed.

The humans had a clever idea to create shade by hanging the blankets between a low ledge on the hill and some sticks stuck into the ground. By placing large rocks on the blankets to hold the hill end, they made an awning. It was heavenly…relatively speaking. But due to the heat, none of them felt much like eating. By contrast, it was apparent they were going to have to make a trip to the spring that evening to refill their canteens. Leo felt glad for that; it would be a chance to bathe and soak again. Indeed, judging from everyone's smells, they all needed it.

Doubly so considering they were working hard again just a couple hours later in moving not just sand, but tons of rock as well! Not that there wasn't some fun about it; it was almost humorous watching Lonny's face as she strained in picking up one of the larger pieces of rock.

"If…I…was…still a…_swampert_…this…wouldn't be…" With a strong heave that clearly took all her strength and then some, she tossed the rock aside…all of about two feet. "…so _damned heavy!_," panting the last few words.

He really didn't want to, but he needed to walk past her…carrying a rock larger then she had just moved. And without nearly as much effort.

"Show off," she hissed.

He grinned, but gave her a pat and a quick tickle on her head fin on the way back from the refuse pile. Just as Chalesti and Grovyle also walked past her…also with larger rocks.

"This isn't fair!" she shouted to the sky after glaring at them.

"Let's move some more sand and give Sally and the other Leo some time moving rocks," he suggested. "It'll also be easier on your leg." She snorted, but he grabbed her wrist and pulled her up to the top anyway.

With everyone working, the sand-buried rock pile went down a little faster than he would have expected, considering how hot it was. But with each of them moving slower than before (including Lonny, who had to concede she just couldn't go as fast as she wanted in the heat), they were able to steadily work at it. In fact, by the time it was late afternoon…

"I see an opening!" his human self shouted from the top, Chalesti shouting the same time in Poké speech beside him.

That spurred everyone into a flurry of action. With them all at the top digging and pushing rocks out of the way in furious fashion, that by the time they all just about killed themselves, they'd managed to get the top three feet cleared away from the opening.

Leo took his turn peering into the darkness before Sally ran down, grabbed a flashlight, and climbed back up. Somewhat anticlimactically, the only thing the strong beam revealed was a wall about twenty feet in, where the passage looked to make a ninety degree turn to the right.

"Oooo, this is exciting!" Chalesti exclaimed before quickly scooting through.

"Hey, hold on!" Leo shouted, just barely getting hold of Lonny to stop her from following.

His human self said about the same thing: "Just wait a couple minutes while we gather a few things like another flashlight, then we'll join you Chalesti!"

"I have a torch in my satchel too," Chalesti's voice echoed from inside.

With all their packs (minus what was setup in camp), they were soon on the floor of the passage with the pink clefable researcher-explorer, both his human self and Sally with flashlights lighting the way.

"Now this is exploration," Blaze said with a grin beside him.

It certainly had been a while since they last were in a hidden passage, and his heart quickened in anticipation. And nervousness.

* * *

Musty and dusty. The passageway had every indication of being sealed for a very long time. It was also cool, which was very welcomed compared to the heat outside! Still, Leo Hanson felt his heart racing as he and his counterpart lead the way down the short passage, both fear and excitement coursing through him. After a couple weeks of speculation, it seemed they were on the cusp of getting some answers!

Carefully peering around the corner, he shone the flashlight around to get a good look. Yet like before, the bright blue beam from its LEDs barely revealed yet another turn to the left, perhaps a good hundred feet down. Otherwise the passage was empty. Taking a step around the corner, Chalesti shouted something.

"We need to be careful of traps," his counterpart translated. "You should let me go first." Even though the swampert said it, Chalesti moved around them deftly and took the lead.

Not that he was going to argue. If the six-winged pink Pokémon was the researcher and explorer she said she was, she was likely experienced at such things. Of course his counterpart, Blaze and Grovyle were too, but since Chalesti started this whole adventure…

Once in the lead, she stopped them several times while feeling the semi-smooth walls of the passage. There no traps apparently as she continued silently and they arrived at the next turn without incident, where once again he shone the flashlight around before making the turn himself.

"Short walk, only twenty feet again, but it dead ends. The ceiling gets a little higher…" His words caught as the flash of light quickly revealed…something just on the side. Going around the corner, Sally added her beam to his, revealing more of the something on the curiously smooth left-side wall.

Chalesti again lead the way down until they were all standing in front of a mural painted onto the wall, one with some very specific figures that made his heart nearly stop!

"It's…us!" Lonny said almost breathlessly.

On the wall about eight feet from the end and in full color, were the depiction of six figures arraigned in a circle: a swampert, infernape, grovyle, a male and female human, and one human female with head fins and light blue skin. Like on the map, these were spitting images of themselves, only larger!

"This is really giving me the creeps," Sally said after a moment after the initial shock seemed to wear off.

Grovyle stepped closer, putting a claw into the other obvious thing about the mural: the shallow six-sided hole dead center in the circle of figures. A few yellow lines were drawn from the hole to a yellow circle high up and far outside the figures.

No sooner had he just taken that in, then Chalesti suddenly had the fourteen-sided crystal she'd last shown off in his home in her hand, and reaching to put it into the hole.

He nearly choked trying to shout a "Wait!", along with four other voices comprised of two different languages.

The clefable froze.

"You don't know what that's going to do!" his counterpart said, grabbing her arm.

Turning, she revealing a broad smile before replying.

"Are you sure?" the swampert replied in human speech. "It doesn't have to make sense, anything could be a trap."

"Let her put it in," Lonny supported. "It's time we find out what this is about. Maybe putting that thing there will transform me back, so put it in!"

The swampert returned a hard stare to his mate, but none of them said anything for a good moment.

He could see the clefable's point. Why go through all the trouble of making a map with them on it to lead them here, tunneling this passage and drawing them again on the rock, only for it to be a trap? No, there had to be something big behind all this and for a better reason. Gesturing to the hole, "Well, on second thought I guess there is no other way to find out what it'll do. Let's put the crystal in."

In the light of the flashlights, everyone else nodded.

"We should all back up though," Sally cautioned, "just in case."

Once they were all several paces away except for Chalesti, the clefable twitched her six wings and quickly set the crystal into the hole, into which it appeared to fit perfectly. She let out some noise he interpreted to mean excitement as she turned this way and that in looking around.

He did the same, looking and straining to listen with the others if anything might be happening…

…and waited.

"Nothing?" Sally whispered in a tone of puzzlement.

Murmurs among the Pokémon carried a similar tone.

After another moment he closed the few paces to rejoin Chalesti. Feeling the crystal, it did seem like it was seated properly. Just to make sure, he pulled it out and put it back in. "Maybe one of us has to do it," he said aloud on the thought. But the result was the same, namely being no result.

Sally took the crystal and did the same thing, also resulting in nothing.

"Well this is disappointing," his counterpart said.

Lonny next tried it, just about slamming the crystal into the wall and causing Chalesti to jump and basically scream at her. Fortunately the crystal remained undamaged…with nothing else changing either.

The former swampert pounded her fist against the wall, right over her own figure. Screaming herself: "Do something, damnit! Change me back!" Within a heartbeat, her voice echoed and died.

Leo closed his eyes for a second before reaching to rub her shoulder a little, hoping to comfort her a little. "Now what?" he asked to everyone else. "It seems obvious putting the crystal in that hole should do _something_."

Sally sighed, leaning against the wall behind him. "Maybe whatever was supposed to happen can't anymore because of deterioration due to age. This place has to be at least as old as that map."

"Right, but if they knew it was going to be that long before we came into existence, then it would be reasonable to assume they would have designed it to last at least that long," Leo countered.

"Assuming they were able," Sally returned. "Whoever 'they' were."

Hoping for any clues, he shone his flashlight all over the area, including the opposite wall, hoping maybe they missed something. As it so happened, it was Grovyle who first pointed a claw at it almost before the beam hit it.

"What the heck…is that?" Sally asked, moving to the opposite wall to have a closer look at the dark circle about five feet above the rough-hewn floor.

Lonny competed for a look next to her, "It's a hole…"

Pointing her flashlight into it for a moment, "It's long, but I think it's blocked on the other end," Sally informed. "Sand and some small rocks, maybe. Can't see that far down."

Leo waited for his counterpart and his partner take their looks next, Blaze needing to partly climb on the swampert to get high enough. The infernape chattered something, the swampert responding it just might go all the way outside if it wasn't blocked.

_Outside?_ On a sudden thought, he faced the mural again. Solid yellow lines…coming from where the crystal was to a yellow circle outside and above the circle of six figures… "Sunlight!" he said in unison with his wife as she joined her flashlight beam with his on the yellow circle.

"Light needs to shine on this crystal!" he repeated, pointing to the item still in the wall. To further test the hypothesis, he positioned his head directly in front of the crystal and aimed the flashlight at the hole. As he hoped, he could see down its length. "That hole is pointed right at it. It _must_ need light!"

"Let's use our flashlights!" Sally said excitedly, already shining hers on the crystal.

Leo followed suit as the others watched. The two beams together created an interesting refraction pattern as the light hit the silvery center and left the crystal on all seven of its exposed sides. But that was it.

"Maybe it really needs sunlight," his counterpart said before walking up the mural and tracing his finger along some grooves that weren't painted.

"Or stronger light than two flashlights," Sally added.

Lowering his own light, Leo noticed Grovyle taking Chalesti by the arm. After saying a few words, the two of them quickly took off down the passageway and disappear around the corner.

"They're going to check the outside and see if they can unblock it," his counterpart translated."

"Hope it isn't a mile deep like the mountain we already moved today," Lonny commented, leaning against the wall next to the hole. She seemed tired as well as impatient in scratching around the wound on her leg.

"I don't think the sand is as deep on that side," Sally pointed out with a optimistic tone. Then jabbing a thumb toward the hole: "That is east, right?"

"I think so," Leo replied, getting nods from both his counterpart and Blaze, and decided to take a closer look at the mural too while they were waiting, joining his counterpart in tracing some of the grooves. Definitely chiseled and not random…

* * *

"I think those form a pattern."

Leo looked to his partner before stepping back for a better perspective. In the inconsistent illumination of the two flashlights (which his human self and Sally keep moving around!), there did seem some design about the grooves. "Think it might be the same pattern as on that Relic Fragment you had or on the rainbow stoneship?" If that was true, perhaps there really was a connection to Dialga right there in front of them! Not to mention bringing up more than _one_ memory…

Blaze formed a grimace across his short, red infernape muzzle. "It's bigger if anything, but I can't see enough of it. Most of the lines are really faint. Can I borrow that light?"

Of course his human self couldn't understand him. After translating, Leo handed over the piece of human technology with both his other self and Sally stepping back. With the item in hand, his partner begun following some of the grooves…quickly making apparent this was a different design from that on the Relic Fragment. There were similarities, but it really looked more like…

"Kind of like the sun, with rays coming from it and swirls inside of it."

Looking to Lonny, he saw her shrug.

"I saw a TV program once about the sun," she said, still leaning against the opposite wall. "I didn't understand a lot of it, but those swirls sort of look like movies humans made of close ups of the sun."

"You mean solar convection currents?" Sally asked, since Lonny had spoken in human tongue. Adding her flashlight's light from a different angle, she illuminated more of the shallow grooves.

"It does sort of," his human self said after a moment. "Odd."

"Maybe it's just saying we really do need sunlight to make whatever this is to do whatever it's supposed to do," Sally added, just as the darkness lifted a little.

Behind them, some light now came through the hole in the wall, growing over a few seconds as Grovyle and Chalesti apparently worked to clear debris on the other side of the thick wall. All heads glanced between the hole and the crystal, which still did nothing.

"Must need direct sunlight," Sally continued. "And since this planet has a tilt somewhat like Earth's, that means the sun rises at a different point each morning."

"So the sun has to be at the right spot before it's light will shine all the way down that hole," Leo finished, getting Sally's nod.

"So it won't work most of the time?" Blaze asked, leaning closer to the crystal.

Leo translated though knowing his partner's question was more rhetorical.

"Right," Sally answered. "With a six-inch hole about…fifteen or twenty feet long, there's probably only a few days each year direct light will make it through."

Leo faced his human self as the human started chuckling.

After a moment: "How much you guys want to bet tomorrow morning will be one of those days?" the human asked. "Considering everything?"

All at once, Lonny was wearing a broad smile as well.

* * *

Despite walking the mile or so each way to the spring (the bath was most welcomed of course), Leo Hanson still found sleep difficult right after dinner. Utter exhaustion from the day's hard work and the hike just weren't enough to offset his growing anticipation. It was a gut feel, but something special was going to happen tomorrow when the sun rose. In fact, he was afraid if he fell asleep, he would sleep too late and miss it!

He now knew how his counterpart and his partner must have felt during their numerous explorations, especially during their Guild days. Although they had hard times in trying to fend off the disaster of time stopping, they had incredible adventures as well according to what they told. Just like the one they were having now…

Yet with a deep breath, he tempered himself. It could still turn out to be a big nothing; then he'd be really disappointed. Like Lonny was apt to be if there wasn't something there that would change her back into a swampert.

"What 'ya thinking about?" Sally asked in snuggling up closer as they sat near the low campfire.

He stared up into the sky, twilight still providing plenty of light and only allowing the brightest of the stars to shine. Earth was up there, though he couldn't pinpoint it's sun… "Who says I'm thinking about anything?"

"Because I know you pretty good by now. OK, it's a silly question. We're all thinking about what we're going to find tomorrow."

Following her gesture, he looked around the fire to everyone's faces and swore they practically mirrored his own feelings, although Lonny seemed the most…upbeat? He really hoped there would be something for her in…whatever that crystal was supposed to do. Facing his counterpart and Blaze: "What do you think that crystal is supposed to do? What's the _most likely_ thing? You have a lot of experience with these things, right?"

Blaze laughed, slapping his yellow-haired knee as his tail twitched behind him. "Fara ne grinfra he he!"

"Plenty with unexplored places, including a few ancient sites, but none of them involved crystals," the swampert said. After Grovyle added something, "Nor any with our names practically on them," finishing with a nod to the gecko Pokémon.

Grovyle returned the nod in apparent reinforcement to the point before continuing in Poké speech.

"He says there isn't even any Unown text here, unlike there was at the ruins around Temporal Tower," the swampert went on. "Suggesting the ones who built those ruins, and those that drew Chalesti's map and built _this_ passageway are two different groups, or maybe built at different times."

"Or maybe they didn't think we would understand Unown?" Sally added.

"Grover." Being next to her, Grovyle gave her back a pat.

Chalesti next spoke, in a tone that resembled Wigglytuff's to some degree. Instead of translating right away, his counterpart and the other Pokémon spoke back a forth a few moments, making him and Sally wait.

Finally: "There are other ancient ruins around the world, all build at different times, most around or older than five thousand years. Chalesti doesn't know exactly when, but she and her colleges think there was a period of time when humans were here, when most of these ruins were built. They call it the period of Great Works."

Leo's breath caught at the same time as his wife gasped. "Oh! I nearly forgot about that."

"Right, Lapras Waverider told us about that!" Sally said.

"Lapras?" the swampert exclaimed over various sounds from the other Pokémon.

"Sorry," Sally continued. "We met Lapras while the three of you were on that last mission. She mentioned she knew of the tales about humans from long ago, and how they helped Dialga build Temporal Tower, and possibly other things around the planet. She also said it was known as the time of Great Works."

Leo watched Chalesti nearly jump as she squealed excitedly, which his counterpart translated as wanting to speak with Lapras. That of course, started a round of questioning about everything Waverider told them, which by the end he was starting to yawn pretty good. Yet his heart was still pounding with anticipation.

At least everyone fell silent for a few moments as night-time sounds were taking over and the last vestige of twilight faded, the only remaining light being from a rising half moon and the low campfire. What was needed was something to take their minds off of tomorrow… "Anyone know any stories to tell?" After enduring questioning looks from the Pokémon: "It's a human tradition. Around campfires, you tell stories. Lonny, I'm sure you have a few from your various battles." Indeed, being able to hear firsthand from a (former) Pokémon would be rather unique!

The former swampert seemed to perk up, but only stared back questioningly as she scratched her head.

"That's right," Sally said. "It'd be interesting to hear some stories from the Pokémon's perspective." As if anticipating a good story, she curled up on her side, putting her head in his lap.

Instinctively, he started stroking her head and shoulder. It felt nice…

"Yeah, you must have some good ones," his blue finned counterpart encouraged, reaching up to give his own stroking to his mate's shoulder and back.

Leo smiled at having made a good suggestion and seeing the expectation in everyone's expressions, especially on Blaze's red infernape face, although Lonny looked unsure.

Finally the former swampert spoke: "Well, I don't know how interesting this is, but one time, right after I evolved to a swampert, Christina had me battle this human who had a large meganium with him. It was one of the few battles I lost; I was at a big disadvantage because it was a grass type. But that human was also a jerk. Since we were camping together for the night, he did a lot of talking around the fire and after a while suggested my blue skin would look good as upholstering for a set of bar stools he had.

Leo noticed his counterpart cringe and Blaze's yellow and blue eyes holding a suddenly fearful look.

"So…what did you tell him?" Sally asked carefully in taking the bait. "Obviously, he wouldn't understand anything you…"

"I said nothing," Lonny replied shortly. "What I _did_ was get up and clobber him but good. So good…that I broke his arm. I didn't mean to, but I wasn't used to my new strength yet."

In addition to Grovyle bursting out laughing, Leo added his own with his wife somehow managing to contain hers despite a wide grin.

"Wow. But it sounds like he deserved it," Sally said.

"Me and Christina spent that night at the police station, me in a cage. The Pokéball wouldn't have sent the right message I guess. She was a young teenager, so they had to release her to her father, or so it was explained. But I…got a stern talking to from that human in blue, and Harry had to pay the man's hospital bill. Didn't make him very happy. I got talked to by him too the next day. Being a Pokémon, I was able to play dumb though," she smiled. "Guess I can't do that anymore, not till I get changed back."

"Well, not even then," Leo informed. "Because now we know how smart you _really_ are."

"Sorry, but the secret's out," Sally added, grinning again.

"And," Leo continued, "if, er, _when_ you get changed back, since we also know how strong you are as a swampert, we have a whole _list_ of things we need to have done back at the house."

"I'm pretty sure Wigglytuff mentioned several things too," Sally chimed.

Lonny's expression became priceless as she groaned, burying her head between her knees. "This is a curse!" shouting to the ground, angrily. She didn't seem to be taking it well.

On his counterpart's stern look, "Um, we're sorry, Lonny. It's just that we tend to tease those we like."

"Definitely," his wife added. After a moment, she got up and kneeled down behind the light blue-skinned human. After brushing her long red hair behind her, she gave the former swampert a quick hug before starting in with massaging her shoulders. 'Come on, things will be fine, Lonny. We all love you…"

"Oh!" Lonny instantly raised her head and after a bit, started smiling dreamily with several Oo's.

Sally flexed her arms in an especially firm-looking rub going upward along her shoulder blades, causing the near-human to nearly arch her back in response. "How does that feel?"

"Oh…don't stop…"

Leo glanced to his counterpart, who just shook his head. Trying to sound hopeful, "Do I get one next?" Blaze yipped something, which he assumed was the same question.

"Maybe tomorrow night," Sally said with light smile before she yawned.

Even just watching her and Lonny made him feel a lot more relaxed…made far more so when Grovyle moved behind him and started in on his own shoulders. He was soon nodding off, with only a vague recollection of someone wrapping his sleeping bag around him sometime later.

* * *

Making sure Lonny wasn't stirring, Leo slowly got himself untangled from her blanket and walked to where Blaze was a little distance away from camp, just in front of the entrance to the hill. So it seemed neither of them could sleep yet, even though speaking for himself, he was exhausted. "We should be asleep too," he mentioned. "Even Grovyle is sleeping soundly."

Blaze nodded, looking back to the camp for an instant. In a quiet voice: "Just thinking back to our Guild days, when it was just the two of us. We had our share of late nights, ha ha."

Indeed they did. "A wonder we didn't have more of those late nights. Most things were new to us back then, and we had to contend with a lot of things, including the time stoppage disaster." Although there were a lot of bad times, the good far exceeded the bad and sometimes he wished they could go back to those times, when things were much simpler. After they both stared at the opening for a moment: "This time is different from any other, isn't it? You can feel it too?"

The infernape's red and yellow mane puffed. Moving his tail around to point at the opening, "What's ever there, seems meant for us and only us. From a long time ago. This may even have been made by humans, or by Dialga. Maybe even Palkia, for all we know. When the sun's light hits that crystal, maybe it will warp us into the past? That is really starting to scare me now, Leo."

Seeing the slight tremble in his friend's red tail, "Me too," in as supportive a tone as he could. "I think it frightens my other self and Sally also…and probably Grovyle too. Lonny…" Looking down, he didn't know what else he could say there that wasn't already obvious. If the crystal activated some kind of time portal, she was going to be disappointed. "On the other hand, and I've thought on this a bit, if we're meant to go into the past, then there's probably nothing we can do about it, especially if it was set up by Dialga. We just have to let it happen. And no matter _what_ happens, this is obviously part of _somebody's_ plan for us." He waited while Blaze seemed to dwell on that for a while in staring at the small opening above them.

"I guess," Leo continued, "one way to look at this is it's no use worrying about it. The events are set in motion and we're just along for the ride. And so far, I haven't seen any reason to believe anything bad is intended to happen to us."

"Ha ha. You're probably right." With a little happier expression, the infernape popped what looked like a small yellow piece of sitrus berry into his mouth. "OK, let's get to sleep."

"Not if you keep eating those," Leo pointed out, giving one of his head fins a rub. An energy-giving berry was the very last thing one should eat if sleep was desired, especially the potent sitrus berry!

"No, that's what sleep seeds are _for_," Blaze grinned back, holding up one of the said pale yellow plant items for a good look before turning around for camp.

Leo had to shake his head, not that he hadn't tried one or two himself as a sleep aid. "Guess I'll be waking someone up in the morning with my Loudred impersonation."

"My ears are ringing already, ha ha. You know, it's too bad humans can't use these."

"If they did, berries and seeds would make a mint on Earth," Leo replied. "Oh, and they already grow on Earth anyway. Darn." So much for his brief dream of riches! Then: "Alright, have another of those stashed away? My human self can wake me in the morning."

As if he already had it in his hand, Blaze produced another in front of him. "I knew you were going to need it."

There were just some times that his friend knew him so well, it was scary!

* * *

Leo Hanson watched the brightening eastern sky, the sun just peaking above the horizon across the windless desert as a bright red ball. Everything was still, save for an occasional cry of a desert Pokémon somewhere in the distance…and his nerves. What was it that lay ahead? Was it…destiny? Or someone's long ago idea of a joke? But the power to know they would exist, so far in the future… Perhaps it was themselves that setup everything…after being transported back into the past.

And now that the time was at hand to perhaps find out everything, he was scared. And excited.

Well, whatever it was…apparently was already planned. Perhaps the best was to meet it head-on. Perhaps they didn't have a choice.

"Shall we?" a swampert voice asked behind him in human speech.

Gathering resolve, he nodded before putting on his cap and turning back to the camp. Everyone, human and Pokémon alike, jumped into motion, heading for the passage after donning their packs and satchels. Judging from the angle of the hole aimed at the crystal, light wouldn't fall on it immediately but perhaps an hour after sunrise. He and Sally both guessed the crystal needed brighter light then that provided by a just risen sun, though they weren't sure when the exact moment would be, so best to be in there and waiting plenty ahead of time.

Although only six inches wide, the hole let in more light than he would have thought despite it facing east, but it was diffuse, orange, and not very intense. Which was changing rapidly as the sun climbed. Only question: was this the right time of year for direct rays to get through?

The brighter light compared to what they had yesterday afternoon did provide the opportunity to view the mural a little better…if only everyone wasn't in the way! "We should probably hang over by this wall now," he said, patting the opposite wall he was leaning against with Sally.

"Clebba ranable."

The clefable sure was excited…just like the rest of them, he thought. Except she was the only one among them not on the map or the mural, so what kind of a role she was supposed to play in all this? Of course he might have an answer to that if he knew what the roles were for the rest of them. His counterpart still thought it possible Dialga might be behind it…maybe even operating from the past.

He just really hoped they themselves weren't going back in time. In the other timeline, the Future That No Longer Exists, his other self had already traveled through time…three times, no less! And got changed into a Pokémon in the process. Given the propensity of bodies being changed in time and dimensional holes, any further travel would, how should he put it…highly undesirable? Except for getting back to Earth for a visit one of these days, of course.

Yeah, he could just see it, he eventually ending up just like his counterpart in becoming a Pokémon too. And if it was a mudkip again…

"I think you're right Leo, this will be _the_ morning," Sally said quietly, wrapping an arm around him in leaning against him.

For a brief moment, he enjoyed her warmth next to him against the chill of the tunnel's air. Then looking up, his heart quickened. On the wall, a sliver of bright, direct sunlight was suddenly hitting the wall, but to the side of the crystal. Yet over the seconds it was moving, becoming fuller, even brighter…heading for the clear, fourteen-sided gem and it's partial silvery center. In another couple minutes…

He felt Sally's arm tighten around him. Beside them, his counterpart and Lonny were equally together, Blaze on the other side of the swampert. Grovyle…he started moving, placing himself in front, as if protecting him from the mural.

Now there was loyalty. Putting his own arm around his wife, he draped the other over his green friend's shoulder and loosely around his slender neck, holding him close though mindful of his long head leaf. His friend had protected him on countless occasions going all the way back to their training days, and there was no way he wouldn't to do the same for him if the situation demanded.

"Clebba!" Chalesti shouted, almost dancing in place, her wings twitching.

A two-thirds circle of bright, direct sunlight started touching the crystal, sending refracted and reflected light all around the passageway. In a matter of seconds the sunlit circle grew, filled out, illuminated more and more of the crystal…reaching the silvery center and taking on a warm glow…spreading and growing… At once, the glow spread into the shallow grooves in the mural, lighting them up in with the same soft, yellowish light as the crystal!

"Wow…"

Leo spared only the briefest glance to his mate and the others as they exclaimed their own exclamations. It was as Lonny had originally pointed out: the now illuminated grooves very much seemed to depict the sun with many swirls inside of it!

"So, what does this…" his counterpart started to ask…just as everything started shaking!

"Earthquake!" Lonny screamed, bracing herself against the wall. "I hate earthquakes!"

Yet…it didn't feel that severe, more like a vibration with the sounds of some loose rocks falling outside, the dull noise coming through the hole. More telling of something happening though, was the perfectly vertical crack forming at the end of the passage…

Blaze yelled, pointing to said rapidly widening crack, getting everyone's attention as his mane puffed greatly. Grabbing his partners arm, he was pulling the swampert (and Lonny) back, nearly into Grovyle!

Sally scooted with him from the wall to get a better look while also getting out of the way. "It's a door!"

The opening continued widening as two rock-slabs parted, taking a good half minute to finish and leaving an obvious extension to the passageway in full view. It was another half minute before anyone moved.

"Step into the parlor?" Leo asked. Glancing at the mural, the spot of sunlight was already moving off the crystal and the shallow grooves were losing their glow. "The doors might close if the light moves off the crystal…"

"We might get trapped!" Sally cautioned.

Leo was about to say the same thing when Lonny yelled "Charge!", and tugged mightily on his counterpart's arm, nearly dragging him the ten feet to the doors!

"Cleefa nuf ra!" Charging past the former swampert went Chalesti, one arm in the air, shouting something that nearly sounded like cavalry charge!

"Oh what the hell…" With the light nearly off the crystal, Leo grasped Sally's wrist and seeing her smile in return in the fading light, they charged too, Grovyle just behind. With a glance back, he saw his counterpart and Lonny now bringing up the rear. Safely past the doors, they stopped in time to the see the light move off the crystal, all glow now lost. Yet… the doors remained open.

"Well, I guess there was no hurry after all," Sally said quizzically.

"Got the heart pumping though," Leo replied.

"As if everything else hadn't already?" his finned counterpart asked.

"Oh hush, that was fun," Lonny said, moving her hands over his head fins and getting a shiver from him. "Except for the earthquake."

"That was just the doors opening…" Sally started to say. "Wait, these doors couldn't of caused that much vibration. They aren't that big…"

"Then there's something bigger ahead," Leo said, realizing his wife's logic.


	7. Chapter 7: All That Glitters

_Thanks for the comments, VCJ and Placeholder!_

_

* * *

_**Chapter VII: All That Glitters…**

Leo insisted getting ahead of his human self and Sally. If there was danger ahead, he was better equipped to handle it. Not so much Lonny, but she was sticking by his side, if not also trying to get ahead of him and Blaze. Chalesti was ahead of all of them, though.

After a turn of the new, short tunneled passage, the end was obvious by the amount of light. Not outside light, but after making a second turn, he could already tell it opened on a much larger chamber, where Chalesti was waiting at the threshold. She looked…stunned…or amazed, from what he could tell from her unmoving winged backside.

Racing with the others, he was soon looking out into just what he expected: a large chamber apparently having been carved from inside the hill. Perhaps a good thirty feet high, it ran at least another thirty back into the hill, and forty the other way to straight outside. It was instantly obvious what caused the shaking: two massive doors opening the chamber to the outside, leaving a pile of rock and sand that fell from above in front. Morning sunlight was streaming in, giving everything the usual soft, orange morning glow as the musty smell was dissipating by the second by the fresh outside air. Even a slight breeze could be felt from the tunnel behind with both ends now open.

All this was ignoring what was in the chamber though, and at which he was staring with everyone else. And that was a single, rather large…_object_. He felt Lonny brushing against him and his large rear fin in trying to slide past out of the passageway.

"What is _that_?"

At first he couldn't answer his mate. Whatever the large metallic gold and yellow object with red highlights buried under much dust was, immediately baffled him. But on thinking it bared some resemblance to things he'd seen on Earth: "What is that?" repeating the question to his human self.

Both his other self and Sally moved into the chamber slowly, dropping the packs off their shoulders. The red head was quickly pointing, "It's got windows and wings, so…"

"An…airplane?" Blaze exclaimed, obviously remembering such things from Earth. "But there's no such things here!"

"Technology…" Chalesti was whispering, more to herself.

"It looks like no airplane I've ever seen," Grovyle said, following the two humans by partly climbing on the wall leading out of the tunnel, and causing the rest of them to start moving again.

Leo silently agreed it looked like a plane in many respects, but…

"It's looks like no plane _I've_ ever seen, though," his human self added, just behind Sally as she cautiously walked the many steps to the side of it. "Not exactly, anyway."

The red-haired human touched the somewhat rounded, though still somewhat squarish side, just in front of where the right wing joined the body, "More like…um…" Rapping it with her knuckles, it sounded thin. "Sheet metal?"

"Sorta resembles one of those old space shuttles. I mean, look at the wings: they go from the rear to half-way up the fuselage. There's no horizontal stabilizers."

"But there are rudders," Leo added to what his human self just said, getting a semi-surprised look from the other Pokémon. "I do know about airplanes." And it wasn't just what he had picked up while on Earth for a year. Somewhere in his few fractured recovered memories, he had an image of an airplane or two…and even felt he had some knowledge of how they worked. There was an airplane model he put together once when he was young… As soon as he tried to focus on it, the memory evaporated under the increased focus though. Damn.

"This metal is…layered with gold? I think," Sally continued, brushing off some of the considerable dust with her hand.

Leo got up to the side along with his human self to get a even closer look. The bright golden color revealed where she had brushed certainly looked like gold in the direct light of the morning sun, but his own rap on the side re-enforced the fact it was a thin metal, with a familiar sound to it. Oh…what did they call that material on Earth?

"Gold electroplated on aluminum maybe," his human self said, doing the same inspection after brushing off some more heavy dust. "It'd be corrosion resistant then; quite effectively, probably."

Sally was suddenly patting her hand against it: "Hey…if this _is_ aluminum, then this thing might really be intended to fly!"

Her statement would've certainly gotten his heart going by itself…but there was a bigger reason why it was suddenly pounding, and by the look on the other Leo's face, he was experiencing the same sudden dizziness…faintness…

"Oh…" was all his other self could get out before he started falling.

Leo quickly braced himself against the side of the object to steady himself, but never felt it as the long dormant Dimensional Scream ability fully took over.

_Twilight…?_

_ Shadowed in partial darkness, the hill loomed in front of the dim western glow, a cavernous opening leading inside between several palm-like trees. Many torches were illuminating the chamber where it appeared fresh and clean, while a small team of Pokémon…and humans, were pushing a brand-new looking golden "aircraft" inside._

_ "Carefully!" someone shouted in some strange human dialect._

_ Several Pokémon acknowledged in their own language as a gentle, pleasant breeze blew against his skin. Some cricketots were signing nearby…and campfires burned in various places._

_ Over the seconds, the rear of the aircraft reached the threshold and started rolling in toward some blocks, which seemed meant to bare the craft when the wheels became retracted._

_ The view begun slowly rotating until the nearest of the other hills came into view…_

_ …where a large shadowed form was standing on the very top, though appearing tiny from the distance, apparently watching everything. It's silhouette was as a large, yet elegantly shaped dragon, though again distance prevented any certain identification._

_ It watched motionless as the scene faded, almost with a somber air about it as it bowed it's head…_

"Leo!" a human female voice screamed.

"Leo!" an infernape voice followed.

Directly in front of his nose was a small pile of dirt…which he was breathing in. He rose, sneezing as human and Pokémon hands helped him up. "I'm alright," saying after a second sneeze delayed it. Next to him, his human self was also getting up, Sally and Grovyle helping.

"Was that the Dimensional Scream?," Blaze asking before anyone else.

He nodded, and to both his partner and his human self: "We haven't had one of those for a while."

"This one was intense, like I was actually there…" the other Leo commented, turning to the plane while holding his head. "Even felt the wind."

"Sure you shouldn't be laying down?" Sally asked both of them.

"I'm fine!" Leo replied in unison with his other self.

Shaking her head, Sally sighed but kept a hand on his other self anyway, much like Blaze and Lonny were on him.

"What the heck was that Pokémon on the hill?" his other self asked after a slow shake of his head.

"Don't know," Leo replied. With everyone still looking at both of them with concern and expectation, he explained along with his human self what they saw, each adding details the other missed.

"You think that might have been…Dialga up there?" Blaze asked, hope evident on his red, heavy-browed face. "Or maybe Palkia?"

"It was too dark and too far away," Leo reiterated to his friend. "I'm sorry, I just couldn't tell."

Face still with hope, Blaze turned to his other self, but the human just shook his head, apparently guessing the question.

"Alright, you two sit down for a while in here while the rest of us gather the stuff from camp," Sally said, pointing to a spot by the wall. "I think in here is an excellent place to make camp while we figure this all out."

"I'm fine!" Leo protested, giving one of his green gills a rub to get the dirt off...

…which Sally promptly started pulling, effectively making him yip and jerk toward where she was pointing. "I don't care! You fell from that Scream thing, so just _sit_ for a few minutes." Then pointing to his human self: "And don't you give me any grief either, mister."

"Yes _ma'am_," his human self back talked, but complying in going over to the wall.

Which Leo figured he better finish doing as well.

"Lonny, please watch them and make sure they stay there."

Lonny nodded her light blue and green face, smirking.

"Come on Blaze, Grovyle, Chalesti, let's gather our stuff and bring it in here."

The three Pokémon either nodded or shrugged in following the red-head out the large "front" doors and around the hill, disappearing into the morning sun.

"She's over protective," Leo told his other self as they sat on the dusty floor next to where they had dropped their packs and satchels.

"But I love her anyway," the human replied with a smile.

Indeed, Leo thought. So did he.

Joining them on the floor, Lonny looked suddenly deflated. "How can this…plane thing, make me a swampert again? Was there anything in your vision…any clues?"

Reaching an arm over, he started rubbing the back of the other one he loved. "We only saw a group of humans and Pokémon pushing this thing in here, plus that other Pokémon or creature on the hill," Leo replied in reiterating what they'd already said. If there was anything else to it, he didn't know what.

"I assume it was just before they sealed this chamber," the other Leo added. "Whenever that was. Five thousand years ago, the same age of the map? Assuming Chalesti's guess of its age is correct."

Under his hand, Leo felt as well as heard Lonny sigh heavily, and they all stayed silent until Sally and the others returned a few moments later.

For the next while, they concentrated on cleaning a spot on the semi-smooth rock floor and laying out their sleeping bags and blankets. Blaze and Grovyle gathered some of the numerous rocks from outside to set up a small fire ring just inside the massive doors…which looked as if they were simply carved from the hillside, giving them a natural, camouflaged appearance from outside.

Which made sense, considering everything else.

"So you saw humans," Grovyle said thoughtfully after they finished, his face contorting as if with considerable puzzlement while tugging on his wrist leaves. "But humans didn't have the ability to make something like this five thousand years ago. Or even five hundred years ago. At least not on Earth." Directing his question to Chalesti: "What do you know of this?"

The clefable didn't answer right away as the humans, including Lonny, went over to the object. Instead, she looked deep in thought.

"Chalesti?" Leo prodded.

Eventually she snapped out of it. "Advanced technology. But doesn't look like anything other clefables might have had so long ago. There's only one other known species who could have made such a thing…but not back then…that I know of."

"Humans?" Blaze prodded.

Chalesti nodded with her body.

"But how can this be thousands of years old?" Sally exclaimed from the side of the plane. "Did it maybe time-travel to back then, to be found now?"

"If Dialga could do something like that, then maybe," Leo heard his other self answer.

Leaning against the dusty side, the red head strained on her tip-toes in an attempt to see through one of the nearly opaque dust-caked windows: "OK, so we have one possible explanation…" saying while brushing off more dust.

"Well sure, but that would mean he would've contracted with someone to build it," the other Leo answered while likewise brushing away dust in apparently trying to see where a red metallic stripe was leading to. "That I can't picture."

Sally laughed. "You think Dialga showing up on Earth to place an order at one of the aircraft companies would make news? Wow, it's rather empty inside…"

"Indeed," Grovyle added, turning back from what the humans were doing. "And it would've been Dialga from the past."

"Maybe," Leo countered, giving a gill a rub while checking out the other end of the stripe his human self was following. "We…really don't know if he's still alive though, remember?"

"You know…" Blaze started to say before halting and swishing his tail. Then under their stares: "This might seem silly, but we don't know if Dialga himself actually can travel through time. He said he regulated it, controlled it, and could move people and things through it. But we never saw him move _himself_, even Primal Dialga. And he had plenty of reason to travel himself with Dusknoir to try and stop us at the ruins at the base of Temporal Tower."

Leo thought on that for a few seconds. Blaze was right…

"Small meaningless point, though," the infernape continued with a sigh, his shoulders sagging.

"Not some bad reasoning, Blaze," Grovyle said, giving him a pat on the back. "Let's just say it'll be a lingering question."

"Sure wouldn't mind meeting this Dialga," Lonny added. "Going back in time could solve a few problems, right Leo? It allowed you to save the two worlds."

That was quite obviously true. But time travel had it's complications, as Lonny also well knew from knowing his and Blaze's story.

Cocking her body a little: "Temporal Tower?" Chalesti asked. "And you seem to know a lot about Dialga…"

Oh, that was right! They never told her anything about their adventures!

"AH HA!"

With a start, he turned with Blaze, Grovyle, Chalesti and Lonny toward the humans.

"I think this is the hatch!" his human self exclaimed.

* * *

Under everyone's watchful eyes, Leo Hanson finished brushing off what he and Sally thought was the embedded hatch handle located under a cover. Then with little effort, it turned smoothly in his hand and the entire door popped open of its own accord, a slight swoosh of air coming out amid some falling dust and dirt from the outside.

"Smells stale," Sally commented, backing up a step and nearly into Chalesti.

With his counterpart, Leo opened the door upward and after a quick look inside, stepped up and into the almost completely empty, perhaps ten-foot-wide cabin. Not even any seats, but it was very clean: no dust anywhere! "Definitely airtight," commenting as he stooped to run a finger on the floor…which came away utterly clean.

The Pokémon only spoke a few words among themselves as they spread around the interior, Lonny coming in last. He knew what she had been hoping for, and this plane wasn't it. But then…what _was_ its purpose?

Well, obviously to transport goods and people places, assuming it was truly functional. And in the course of finding that out, he looked around for anything that might indicate such.

"This is the cockpit, I guess," Sally said in moving with him to the front of the cabin where some light was making it through the windows despite the caked-on dust, largely since the morning sunlight was directly hitting them. The brownish glow was somewhat eerie on the slightly curved, foot and a half wide panel that stretched from one side to the other just in front of the windows.

The stone-colored control panel (he guessed) looked very simple with not much on it: a handful of buttons with some strange symbols, a large dark rectangle (screen?), some dark spots that may have been indicator lights (obviously unlit), and smack in the middle, the same sun-like symbol that had glowed on the mural back in the passage…along with a recess in the middle of it that had a familiar shape…

Chalesti seemed to spot it immediately and after shouting in unintelligible Poke language, ran back out of the plane. The other Pokémon rushed up to take her place near the panel.

"A spot for the crystal?" his swampert counterpart asked, giving the recess a close look including running a large blue finger in it.

"What kind of language is this?" Leo asked, pointing to the letter-like symbols on the buttons.

To his question, Grovyle leaned in, but ended up shaking his head before speaking.

"It's not Unown," his counterpart translated.

Hovering over the large dark rectangle, Sally was gently pressing a finger to it. "I think this is a screen; it flexes like an LCD, but seems…different."

Taking the cue, Leo followed his mate's action, discovering an almost fluid-like swirl beneath where he pressed on the thin glass. Similar to an LCD, but there were no discernable pixels, and the fluid seemed more…fluid. In any case, it appeared to be the most advanced thing on the plane, at least at first glance. "Must be a display of some kind."

"Maybe it's a different form of an LCD?" Then with her green eyes widening: "What if it's a more advanced version…that hasn't been invented yet?"

Which would have certain implications…

"What's an LCD?" his counterpart asked, his wide blue face questioning along with Blaze's red infernape one.

"Liquid Crystal Display," he quickly explained, though was sure Blaze probably wouldn't understand. Grovyle knew what it was, as he remembered explaining the technology to him on one occasion back in the University lab. "It forms a picture, like what's used in televisions. But it's advanced technology; there's no way it could have made built so long ago. But…this doesn't look like any LCD I've seen, though I'm still guessing it's a display of some kind."

"If it is a display, then it's still something pretty advanced," Sally pointed out.

"But we saw the vision," the swampert said. "And all the dust on this thing means it's been here for a long time." Blaze yipped something to which the swampert nodded. "The only possibility is someone moved it back in time, and obviously for us to find it now. It _had_ to of been Dialga. There's no one else. Not even Celebi."

"Then why bring it back that long ago; why not make it appear now?" Sally asked. Leo watched the swampert eventually shrug, looking to both Blaze and Grovyle. Neither said anything. Lonny was…just watching, also without any input. "Alright, so as well as you knew Dialga, do you think he would of done something like this, or any reason why? Remember, this thing appears meant for _us_."

Another shrug as Chalesti came running back in. And without any warning, she quickly moved past everyone to slam the crystal home into its socket on the panel!

Gasps, his included…

…but nothing happened…except…where Grovyle had his claw resting…

"That red light came on," Lonny observed, leaning over his shoulder.

Which was apparently it as they waited breathlessly for several moments.

"Well, there's some kind of power," Leo finally stated. "Not bad for something thousands of years old." Then before Chalesti could stop him, he grabbed the crystal from the socket. The light went out and the clefable frowned. Handing the crystal to her: "We really should study this thing first, huh? We have no idea what that was supposed to do!"

The clefable responded by folding her arms across her body with a deeper frown.

"Well, maybe what we should do now is clean off the outside," Sally suggested with a gesture to the windows. "Then we can look this thing over top to bottom and maybe find out more about it."

Which sounded like an excellent plan to him. Except to do that, they needed water, and there was only one source around… Moving toward the hatch, "Come on everyone. We're going to need a lot of water for this, which means a few trips to the spring today."

Moans all around.

* * *

Washing was a chore. Top, bottom, sides, wings, windows, rudders, and everything in between. With the few towels they had between them, it took the entire rest of the day with many trips back and forth to the spring. On the plus side, it was cooler inside the hill than outside under the strong desert sun, and working with all the water certainly helped his skin, restoring it to a healthier shade of blue.

When it looked like a two-day job, Leo decided using his water pulse might help. It did (nothing like a power wash), though he also had to make several trips to the spring to refill right along with the canteens. Although he used energy to propel the water, the water itself still had to come from somewhere!

The water had to _go_ somewhere too. Sure, they were in the desert and it evaporated fast, but the floor of the cavern still became a sloppy mess faster than a pikachu's quick attack, forcing them to move their packs and stuff to someplace cleaner. And that happened to be inside the craft…which also wouldn't make a bad sleeping room, he'd thought.

Sighing wearily, he looked into the chamber while the others were preparing the nightly meal outside. The reward of the day's effort was worth it, though none of them knew what exactly they were supposed to do with the now clean and shiny golden object. In the light of evening, the plane shone with a brilliance he'd never guessed it had, even in the indirect light with the setting sun behind the hill. The Dimensional Scream vision hadn't done it justice.

Also raising his spirits was that Lonny had looked a little happier, as least while she had been working. Though now… Next to the fire, she was staring down, looking barely able to stir the pot. Sadly, they hadn't found even a clue as to how to reverse her transformation…

By contrast, Blaze was sounding hopeful. His infernape friend was now fixated on the fact there seemed to be some connection with Dialga in all this (and by relation, Palkia), although if there was, it seemed to have been in the ancient past. Except…there was the question of when and where did this aircraft come from? The level of technology it represented should not have existed so long ago!

On which subject, Chalesti was then fixated. Technology excited her. Technology that was connected with humans, more so. She, more than any of them, had been was eager to clean the craft's gold-plated skin, hoping to reveal any secrets. Removing the thick dust and dirt layers did uncover what may have been lettering of some kind, but she wasn't able to decipher it.

Same for Grovyle. That fact seemed to be driving the green skinned and leafed grass-type nuts. He once said he took pride in having studied ancient Unown writing on Earth. His other self, the one that had actually come to the Poké world in the Future That No Longer Exists (and subsequently no longer existed himself), had studied more of it while in that dark future. Not that it would have mattered. The writing wasn't Unown, and didn't really resemble anything anyone present knew.

Chalesti at least mentioned one of her colleges across the sea might be able to read it, but they were a month and an ocean away. Still, they had some hope that with all the dust and dirt off the craft, the morning sun would provide some power to the ship and it might begin to work…whatever that meant.

Turning away from the chamber, Leo took his place in the circle around the fire next to Blaze, while Lonny, Sally and his human self filled bowls with stew and handed them out.

"I still want to know what exactly powers that thing," Leo heard his human self say between gulps.

That was a puzzlement, Leo admitted. There was no obvious means of propulsion about it. Human aircraft had engines from what he and Blaze had seen while on Earth, having either propellers or jets (or really large blades in the case of helicopters). This craft had neither, nor anything that even looked like a power source. Of course, there were a lot of smaller areas of the plane where they couldn't see in, like under the floor.

"Maybe like we said," Sally replied with a glance to both him and Blaze, "could be the same thing as what powered that Rainbow Stoneship you two said took you to Temporal Tower." After another bite: "Leo, Blaze, you said you thought it was a relic fragment that powered it, right? A small stone essentially?"

"That's what activated it," Blaze replied. "Don't know about powering it."

Leo translated the clarification, adding: "We don't know what actually powered it."

"Some weird kind of Pokémon energy maybe," his human self said thoughtfully. "Since we haven't seen anything else, we have to assume that's what the power is."

"Or maybe it's just some _thing_ designed to look pretty and doesn't _do_ anything," Lonny said dourly, before draining her bowl by titling it and her head back. Setting the empty dish down, she braced her head on her knees with a sigh.

"That wouldn't make sense," Sally countered.

"It looks to me like it has a definite purpose," Grovyle added almost simultaneously in Poké speech as Sally said the same in human.

Getting up, Chalesti faced the chamber and the golden craft while twitching one of her brown-tipped pointed ears. "It's a flying machine, so we go somewhere in it." Twisting back around, "Doesn't that excite you?"

"What would excite me is being a swampert again," the former swampert replied glumly.

Leo noticed his other self staring at her, as if forming some words. Finally: "If we were meant to find this plane, then I bet we're meant to go somewhere in it. Otherwise why lead us to a plane?"

"I've been thinking about that too," Blaze said. "Where _are_ we supposed to go?"

"Chalesti," Grovyle said, turning his agile body around to face the pink Pokémon. "You said you came from across the sea. What other lands are there on this world?"

The clefable started smiling just slightly before she sat back down on the sand, the humans looking on questioningly. "Well, the continent I'm from is a little smaller than this one, but is otherwise similar. There are some magical places, bunch of places to explore…even a few ruins, but not as many as on this continent. As far as I know, every interesting place has been already explored many times. That's why we've been going to other lands to research."

Leo started translating about half-way through, thankful Chalesti paused to let him catch up.

"So nothing you know of would warrant us going there?" Grovyle asked.

"Not that I know of, not to my continent." Then gesturing to the golden craft, "But no one knew what was here, laying perfectly hidden, until yesterday either."

"Are there other continents on this world?" Sally asked the clefable from across the fire.

"Oh, of course! Many others scattered all around the planet! But I haven't been to most of them, nor have any of my colleagues. A good many of them are, to us, unexplored." Twitching her six wings: "This world is too vast."

Leo started scratching the base of one of his fins at the same time Lonny started with one of hers. Only she kept scratching; she'd been doing a lot of that lately… "So, plenty of places we could go, but no indication of where," summing it up he thought.

"In any case," his human self said, "the first thing we need to do is figure out how to operate it. And before we can do that, we need power. I think."

"And before that," Sally said in getting up, "I need a clean change of clothes." With that, she rose and started walking toward the chamber and the craft inside.

Even as the dust, dirt and sand was being cleaned off the craft, a seemingly equal amount had gotten plastered to the human's clothes, and in the end they nearly blended in with the plane before the cleaning was complete. It was a problem Pokémon didn't have, fortunately.

As it was, in the fading light of evening he could see the red head starting to change through the now clear front windows…just before she dropped out of view.

"Thank you," he breathed in relief as his heart was racing. She was the only other female that could do that to him besides Lonny. The only other female that he had loved…when he was still a human.

Though technically, that had been a different Sally: the Sally who had been in the Future That No Longer Exists. As such, she also no longer existed…right along with the other Grovyle, Celebi…and even Dusknoir and Primal Dialga.

Now Lonny…she most definitely wasn't going to disappear on him (at least not by a change in timelines). Yet fate had to go and make her human!

Feeling more somber, he glanced to his light blue-skinned mate sitting beside him, wondering if there was anything that fate wasn't going to take away from him in one form or another.

At least they were able to have a child first… Oh, how was Chip doing back at Treasure Town?

Wondering about that, he idly watched his human get up after a moment to enter the chamber and the craft as well. After several more (long) moments, they both came out, looking quite a bit cleaner…relatively.

"I think we'll be going to the spring tomorrow to do laundry," his human self said as he settled down with his mate.

Brushing her long red (and still dirty) hair back, "Yeah, but none of you really need to come with us for that," Sally added, smirking just a little. "You guys can just rest."

"Ha ha, but one of us needs to protect you!" Blaze said, twitching his tail straight out and sounding alarmed.

To which Lonny instantly burst out laughing, nearly doubling over a heartbeat later.

The infernape's mane puffed as he stared back like she had lost her mind. "Huh? What's so funny? If a Pokémon attacked them…"

"Someone…didn't watch…enough television!" was all she managed to get out.

Thankfully it was in Poke speech, though Leo fought hard the urge to translate as the two other humans looked on quizzically. Chalesti was also staring at the blue hued human with something akin to cluelessness, though Grovyle seemed to get it, sitting with a smirk he was obviously desperate to hide.

Finally leaning close, he whispered a few words into his partner's red and purple ear, and the infernape's face turned a new shade of red. At least he was grinning, right after he raised his brow ridge about as far as it could go with his widening eyes.

"Private joke," Leo explained to Chalesti, deciding to spare her a red face that would be all too noticeable on her pink skin. Unless…such things didn't embarrass her. But he wasn't going to take the chance. To everyone in human speech: "I think they'll be fine by themselves; we've only seen small and weak Pokémon around. And I'm sure Lonny will let them borrow her spear just in case."

Lonny nodded, having finally gotten control of herself again.

He had to smile; it really was good to see her laugh that hard again, the first time since she arrived on the Poké world.

"That…probably wouldn't be a bad idea," his human self admitted, in a tone of some suspicion as he looked at everyone in the same manner.

"So tell me you two," the clefable suddenly said, pointing to Leo and Blaze, "how do you know so much about Dialga and Temporal Tower? I heard a rumor once about that tower being the cause of that weird time stoppage over three years ago. Do you know about that too?"

"Ha ha! Now that's a long story," Blaze replied as he sat up straighter, his mane puffing again behind his back.

Chalesti clapped her hands, smiling. "I like long stories!"

As Blaze started on the story of a mudkip and chimchar meeting and how they eventually saved two worlds, Leo felt Lonny laying across his upper back. "You make a nice cushion," she whispered, before he felt her pull a blanket partly over them and rest her chin between his head fins.

Although he enjoyed her touch and warmth as Blaze continued the story, he couldn't help but shed a couple tears at certain parts. Some things still just hurt…and some things still made him happy.

* * *

Leo Hanson enjoyed the warmth of the morning sun streaming in through the windows of the plane, helping to chase away the coolness of the night. With the strong light and with the exterior fully washed, maybe also whatever energy the craft needed would now be available. Assuming it needed the light like the crystal did on the mural wall.

His heart began racing in anticipation of what would happen. "Let's try it now," he said, prompting Grovyle to call the other Pokémon in. In another moment, Chalesti had the crystal out of her satchel and in its socket in the control panel. Once again the one red light illuminated…and nothing else.

"Maybe it's broken," Lonny mumbled after they waited a good moment.

"Or it needs something else," Leo's swampert counterpart suggested.

Reaching past Chalesti, he removed the crystal and reseated it, getting the same result. Then after mentally debating the possible ramifications for a good two seconds, pushed one of the buttons.

Nothing…except for the sudden chorus of alarmed-sounding Poké speech.

"Try all of them," Sally suggested.

Glancing back at her to make sure he heard right, he found her shrugging. "Got to find out what they do one way or another, short of taking this thing apart, which we don't have the tools to do anyway."

Her sudden cavalier attitude surprised him, but she did have a point. As he reached for the buttons, his counterpart beat him to it though, in pushing the remaining ones in rapid sequence with all of his large blue fingers. Which got his heart going a little faster…until he realized that still had no discernable effect. "Maybe it _is_ broken, or really is just supposed to do nothing other than look pretty. But that one light works."

Letting out a string of some obviously strong-sounding syllables, Chalesti bent her arm and made as if putting them on her hips (if she would have had such) and kicked the lower part of the panel, the only result of which was a mild "ow" like sound from her.

"You would think there would be some instructions around," the swampert said. "Even the Rainbow Stoneship had such written on a plaque near it!"

"Well, no plaques around here," Sally replied in a disappointed tone. "We checked, remember?"

"Clebba narf ran able!" With that, the clefable moved toward the open hatch and hopped down to the ground outside as if she had an idea.

"She says she wants open a few panels with her pry bar," Lonny said dryly.

With got him immediately chasing after her along with Sally, his counterpart, Blaze and Grovyle!

Yet…he only got a couple steps before the hatch suddenly started closing in front of them on its downward arc. His first thought was maybe Chalesti had put her hand on it to swing it down after her, except only scarcely a second later, he felt a weird vibration…

"The panel!" Sally shouted, pointing.

Swinging around, he saw all the lights on the wide forward shelf were suddenly aglow, including the formally large dark rectangle! And the sun-like symbol around the crystal…it was glowing with sun-like radiance, just like it had on the mural wall! The sound of a seal being made drew his attention back to the hatch as it finished closing behind him, followed by the sound of latches. He raced the final steps to try turning the handle to get it back open, but even with his counterpart helping and grunting, the large lever wouldn't budge! "What the hell…"

The vibrations rapidly grew worse along with the new feeling of movement…and a quiet humming coming from somewhere growing quickly in decibels. Through the door's small window, he found Chalesti standing against the chamber wall, mouth agape and staring back with widened eyes. She was growing shorter…

"We're moving!" Lonny shouted from the front, joined by Grovyle and Sally.

"Get it open!" Sally yelled, fear in her voice.

"Infra ner na reee!" Blaze tried adding all his strength to the hefty lever as his mane puffed greatly, but it was still firmly stuck…

"Remove the crystal!" Leo shouted up front, about to give up on the hatch.

But his wife was already pulling on it. "It's stuck!"

Through the window, the wall of the chamber was now slowly floating past, a small amount of dust being blown around as Chalesti was walking…running alongside as the plane made it outside, screaming something… She fell behind as the plane's speed continued increasing and the ground was already falling away as he ran to the front, heart threatening to come out of his chest.

"Chalesti!" his counterpart yelled behind him through the door as he pounded against it.

What to do…what to do… God, they were trapped! Was the plane going to crash, since none of them were controlling it? His singular thought became getting everything to stop so they could get out! "Maybe one of these buttons will stop it," he thought out loud with the sensation of acceleration increasing.

"Or make us crash!" Sally countered.

"We might crash if we don't do something!"

Which would have been really bad by that point, considering they were already above the highest of the hills in the desert valley, heading toward the coast of the Eastern ocean and straight toward the sun. As they all stood clutching the front panel and watching out the front windows, that coast soon disappeared underneath and behind them, and then it was just water for as far as they could see!

"OK, OK…" Leo said, trying to get his shaking, breathing and heart rate under control so he could think. Still clinging to the front panel, he resisted the urge to pace against the gentle force of acceleration. "We're flying…it took off on its own…and we're flying straight and level…OK, maybe going up a little," hitting his fingers against the panel on each point. "Even closed the door and locked us in. So…"

"It must be programmed," Sally said in finishing his thought, seemingly trying to get her own breathing under control. "But to just fly straight, or to take us somewhere?"

Realizing her state was like his, he put a hand on her shoulder to give her some comfort. She responded by gripping it…tightly.

"Then where would it be taking us?" his counterpart asked after Blaze yipped. "We guess it's taking us somewhere, considering everything else?"

"What's east of here?" Sally asked in return.

All three Pokémon looked at each other. "We have no idea," the swampert answered. "If Chalesti was with us…"

"Oh…wait…did you notice this thing started up the second she jumped off?"

Although there were bigger issues, Leo thought on what his wife pointed out before taking another look at the lights on the forward panel. There were, in one group by themselves, a set of six…three blue and three green. All currently lit. Three and three…as in three humans and three Pokémon? Could it have been waiting for the six of them to get on board, and only them?

"Hey, this display is showing what's looks like a map!" Sally announced after another moment, hovering next to him over the rectangle they'd previously thought was a type of LCD. With everyone quickly crowding around for a look, it's purpose was now confirmed. A simple green field in the layout of the landmass was receding downward with blue stretching out to the top, while in the dead center a tiny yellow outline resembled the shape of the golden plane. "There's no pixilation; it's almost fluidic," Sally noted. "Never seen anything like it."

She _would_ focus on that, he thought. But what stood out to him was the color was pale and washed out, like a see-through liquid, and definitely proving it was a completely different technology from anything they'd seen before. "Ha!" he thought. Leave it to a couple of engineers to pay attention to that considering what else was going on! "So, do we want to try and land this thing, or see where it takes us? Personally, since we don't know what any of these buttons do and we're pretty high up, we should probably let it do what it wants to do?"

Blaze looked undecided, Grovyle was examining the displayed map with Lonny, but his counterpart shielded his eyes with a large three-fingered hand in trying to look out the forward windows.

"Since it took off by itself, it should land by itself…right?" the swampert asked with a good dose of uncertainty in his semi-deep voice.

* * *

Many moments passed with nothing seemingly changing about the operation of the craft. With the ocean still out as far as the eye could see (which was a considerable distance, considering the plane was still pitched slightly upward and they had to of been quite high by this point), Leo settled in the back next to everyone's packs, Blaze and Grovyle joining him on the hard, metal floor. Patting the surface in front of him, he tried getting Lonny to join them, but she stayed in front next to his human self and Sally, at least for a short while.

Since nothing seemed to about to change about their current situation, it afforded the opportunity to think clearly. First thing was, the craft's operation struck him as very similar to how the Rainbow Stoneship operated. Stick in a relic fragment or a crystal, and it starts all on its own. Which he said as much to Blaze and Grovyle.

"At least we don't have to save the world this time…and you don't have to disappear."

He smiled at his best friend's remark and debated whether to voice the obvious or not, maybe sparing his partner a small amount of worry.

"Well, we're being transported for _some_ reason…whatever it may be."

But Grovyle voiced it for him.

Sighing, he fell silent in listening to the air rushing past outside the craft's metal skin and indicating decent speed, but except for the mild hum and vibration, there was little else to suggest they were now moving. Up front, his other self and Sally debated a few things about the technology; he paid a little attention, but was mostly enjoying the sun shining on him as it streamed in through the front windows. Grovyle seemed to enjoy it more, laying back against one of the packs and spreading himself out, almost like a plant absorbing every bit of light he could. The grass-type even gave a contented sigh as he closed his eyes.

"You sure are calm," Blaze remarked to him. "I'm as jittery as a leaf in the breeze."

Grovyle barely shrugged. "No use worrying. We're in someone else's control right now and there's nothing we can do about it. We might as well rest and save our strength."

"Easy for you to say!"

Opening an eye: "If whoever built this ship wanted us hurt, they already had ample opportunity for it; they could have set traps in the chamber. Besides, why build something so long ago to do harm to someone who wouldn't exist for thousands of years? I believe all this is being done because someone needs our help. That's the most likely reason."

Leo looked to his infernape partner. "He has good reasoning." Although he hadn't quite thought through that far, Grovyle's answer made perfect sense to him.

"Dialga?" Blaze asked.

"A lot does seem to be pointing to him," Leo answered. "Still, there is at least one other with time travel ability."

"Celebi," Blaze blurted.

Grovyle raised his head a little. "Yes. There also might be others that we don't know about…or maybe someone was simply able to see the future…maybe with the aid of a Dimensional Scream."

"Mine never worked that far in the future…" And immediately, Leo had to correct himself, "…until I touched this plane…and saw being put into place so long ago…"

Nodding, "We're just going to have to wait and see what the answer is," Grovyle said. "So like I said, no use getting ourselves worked up right now."

Just as it was over four years ago, Grovyle was helping to keep them calm. That was a different Grovyle of course, being the one who ceased to exist when The Future That No Longer Exists ceased to exist, but they really were one and the same.

He closed his own eyes, trying to take his green friend's advice, but sensed the warmth of the sunlight gone a few seconds later…along with someone settling down. He smiled. "Finally joining us?"

Hands started rubbing his forehead, quickly going to his fins; she was shaking. "So there's nothing for us to do but wait, Grovyle?" Lonny asked, a slight tremble in her voice.

"Basically," he answered.

Leo opened his eyes to take one of her hands, but she instead moved between him and Blaze, laying down against him. Reaching an arm around her, "We'll be alright," he said as soothingly as he could despite his own lingering fear.

"I…" She turned her head to look straight at him. "I shouldn't be scared, but I am. I wouldn't have been before…is this another effect of being human?"

"I don't know," he answered. Although one thing he noticed after a being on Earth for a while was he tended to be more emotional than his human self, and he sometimes wondered if that was because he was now a Pokémon, or because of the experiences he'd had since being turned into one. "But Grovyle must be right. I'm sure we're going to be fine." Although he didn't know what was going to happen, he at least tried to sound sure for her even if it wasn't easy.

"We're absolutely going to be fine," Blaze said, putting a purple hand on her shoulder. "Grovyle usually isn't wrong."

Grovyle made some non-verbal sound on the other side of him, as if conveying amusement. "I appreciate your confidence, Blaze," he finally said. "But Lonny, you have us three to protect you if anything does happen. And you aren't bad with that spear."

Lonny gave a quick glance to the side, where the primitive weapon and walking stick was resting on the floor. She then sighed, seemingly more calm. "Thanks." Doing her own reaching, she snagged Blaze and got him to lay down next to her, effectively sandwiching herself between two Pokémon. "Ah, warm in the sun."

"I see you guys are getting comfortable," Sally said from up front.

"We could be traveling for a while," Leo replied.

"Yeah, I still can't see anything ahead except water, and that's what the display is showing too," his human self added. "Nothing but the blue of ocean. So I guess we might as well all rest back there."

"And it's getting warm enough in here we don't even need blankets anymore," Sally added.

"Not just yet," Lonny answered, reaching behind Blaze to brush Blaze's long red and yellow mane so it laid on top of her neck, making for a sparse scarf.

"Looks good on you," Leo said to her with a grin to his partner after raising his head a little.

"I wonder if this thing is going to take us half-way around the planet," Blaze seemed to muse with a hint of worry.


	8. Chap 8: End of the Line, End of the Team

_Thanks to Arbajor for the review of the last chapter!_

* * *

**Chapter VIII: End of the Line, End of the Team**

How the Pokémon could simply fall asleep under the current circumstances, Leo Hanson hadn't a clue. Even Lonny looked at ease, snuggled next to her mate with Blaze back-to-back against her, providing some extra warmth for her.

As for himself, he was wound up as he leaned against the side of the plane. Still, after a good while of watching that little scene in the back and with his own mate snuggled next to him on a blanket, he was finally feeling too tired to think anymore. Sally at some point had already laid her head on his lap and fell asleep, and his eyelids soon closed as he was slowly stroking her long red hair, only to open them on being shaken.

"Leo, We're slowing," Sally said urgently.

Indeed, he could feel the gentle force of deceleration as he came fully to. "What time…" Looking out the forward windows nearly answered his question, the sun appearing to be slightly behind them, assuming the plane stayed on a straight course. "Early afternoon?" Up in front, all the Pokémon were already there including Lonny.

"Maybe three hours," Sally answered as she got up to join everyone else at the front.

If only they knew how fast they'd been going, they might be able to calculate a distance…

"This map just started showing something ahead," his counterpart announced, pointing to the display on the console.

Grovyle and Blaze were conversing as he followed his wife to the front, just barely having to brace himself against the deceleration.

"An island?" Sally asked, putting her hands on Blaze's yellow-haired shoulder pads in fighting for a look over his head. Then moving them down his sides, she motioned her fingers in a tickling motion...

"Inferna he he!" The infernape jerked, moving more in front of Lonny while protecting his sides.

Being a little taller, Leo could see right away on the display what she was talking about. "If the scale is the same as before, it isn't large…"

"I think that's it."

Leo followed his counterpart's large blue finger to dead ahead. Just visible through the light blue haze of distance, there was something dark on the horizon. In another few moments, they approached enough to realize it did seem an island, although it was more akin to a tall volcanic cone of dark rock jutting out of the water, it's height growing more impressive by the minute.

"That has to be at least two hundred meters high," Sally exclaimed, her gaze fully fixed on it like everyone's else's.

The other aspect growing in impressiveness was its steepness; there was no coastline to speak of, just piles of boulders around where dark grey island met ocean. In fact, the only place that looked suitable to land was the top, where it appeared at least somewhat level for as much as they could see from below it's level. But the plane made no indication of increasing it's altitude any to reach there.

"Why are we going right into it?" Lonny asked after the fact became quite apparent.

"Make that four hundred meters," Sally corrected as they got ever closer with the 'tower island' continuing to grow…and still the plane didn't change course.

Blaze yipped in a tone of alarm.

Was it really going to fly straight into the side? As everyone started backup up, he felt confused between what his eyes were seeing verses why on Earth anyone would program the craft to do such as thing! In another few heartbeats, the only view out the front windows was of a sheer rock face…

Sally grabbed his arm in apparent panic and was pulling him back when seemingly at the last second, the plane banked sharply to the right. If it wasn't for the banking, centrifugal force surely would have forced each of them into the side, but the plane continued slowing and quickly eased the bank before gently reversing itself as it started going around the island. It was actually larger than even Sally's revised estimate, and they were still a reasonable distance from it he realized. "Maybe a half mile?" Leo said with some awe in plastering his face against a forward window to look both up and down as much as possible.

"Maybe it'll take us to the top now," Lonny said with apparent impatience, crossing her arms after returning to the front and giving her mate a quick brush on his head fin.

With the slight noon-time angle of the sun changing with their change in direction, they came around the south side and at once the plane stopped its slow forward momentum...right in front of a large square opening that seemed half-way up the near-sheer side of the dark colored rock.

"I think we're going in there," Leo guessed as everyone crowded at the front windows again. Then with a smile he had no idea from where it came: "So how's this for some exploration guys?"

Grovyle huffed with a shrug, giving one of his wrist blades a stroke. "Vy rower hic vi."

"Definitely exciting, but I wish Chalesti was here to see this," his counterpart lamented.

Blaze added something or other in Poke speech, giving the swampert a light pat on the back.

Once the turn was complete, the shuttle-like plane moved almost silently into the "cave", a small opening in the back just catching his eye. Then a new vibration came through the frame just before the humming of what was probably the "invisible" engines ceased, with one final jerk as they presumably set down. Then…it was utterly silent, and he could hear the blood pumping in his ears.

"Well," Sally said when no one had moved right away to break the silence. "Anyone know where we are?"

Leo looked to the Pokémon, thinking it certain none of them knew anything though.

"In a cave on an isolated island in the middle of an ocean," his counterpart said, moving toward the door.

"Very funny Leo," Sally admonished.

The swampert turned his head back a little, just showing a slight smirk as Blaze grinned. Still, the two Pokémon took in a deep breath as they tried moving the handle for the door…which now seemed to require little effort. The door opened upward, pushed up by its hidden mechanism.

In seconds they all jumped out into the coolness of the artificial cave. It was definitely man or Poké made, being like a rectangular box chopped out of the solid rock. There was some debris of the dark grey rock inside, suggesting neglect, as well as a few nests in the backmost area, likely built by bird Pokémon. But they were empty.

In spreading out in the cave, his sense of abandonment grew stronger; it was reasonable to assume the cave was made at about the same time as the chamber the plane was in, meaning it had to be old. Stepping up to the edge overlooking the ocean, he shielded his eyes against the sun that barely shone in from now the west, but there was nothing in sight; they were truly in the middle of the ocean, far away from any other land as far they knew and the display in the plane indicated.

"Long way down there," Sally said, coming up carefully beside him to look down.

A good several hundred meters down, a barely visible surf swelled against the base of the island and the few rocks that had found purchase there. "Watch that first step," he replied. Then taking a deep breath of the gentle breeze that was blowing past, "Refreshing though, after being in that thing for a few hours," jabbing his thumb back toward the plane. Indeed it was a good change from the stale smell inside the plane...not to mention the smells from too many species all crammed in together for several hours with minimal ventilation. But glancing at the rear of plane, it still shone with golden brilliance in the indirect light, making him marvel still at its beauty.

The Pokémon and Lonny moved around the craft to join them, Blaze tapping the one wing and making it sound hollow, as each took their own breaths of the fresh air.

"Seems that plane is the only way to get up here," he commented after each had their looks down. "Unless one can climb rocks like Grovyle."

"They have to _get_ to this island first," Lonny pointed out.

"Maybe by flying like we did?" his counterpart pointed out, pointing back to the nests.

Blaze said something with the inflection of a question, followed by a response from Grovyle.

Both he and Sally turned to them.

"We're wondering if this is someone's home," the swampert explained. "That opening back there turns to the right as goes into darkness after some distance."

"A way down?" Sally asked.

All the Pokémon shrugged. "The _only_ way to go, by the looks of it," the swampert replied. "You still have those flashlights?"

For the hundredth time, Leo was very glad they happened to have all their stuff in the plane when it decided to take off on its own with them inside. All thanks to the wet floor from their washing efforts the other day. "Of course." Then after a pause while looking at the dark and decidedly unwelcoming passage: "Well, if it's the only way out of this cave…unless this plane will start again."

"Oh!"

His counterpart's exclamation got everyone's attention as he ran almost on all fours back into the plane. After emerging a half-minute later holding the crystal before setting it down: "We don't want it starting up on its own while we're not in it."

"Good thinking," Sally replied while Lonny gave the blue-skinned Pokémon a pat.

"Let's get our packs and get going then," Leo said after another moment of enjoying the view and the breeze. "Never know what else we might need," and getting agreement from Sally.

Several moments later, he and Sally had their packs and the Pokémon their satchels, and they were all standing before the entrance at the back of the artificial cave. With flashlights in hand, he and Sally led them inside, slowly, considering the concern Chalesti had with the passage back at the hill in the desert. His counterpart and Blaze walked very close behind to the point of bumping into them, obviously not liking letting a couple humans leading, but he and his wife had the flashlights, Leo thought with a mental smile. Also, there hadn't been any traps where they found the plane; assuming the same builders, it would be kind of silly to have them here and not there. He hoped.

The somewhat wide passage was cool and appeared of similar design to the other one as well. All clues they were, in fact, related, which of course was otherwise obvious considering the plane flew them there. What he (and everyone else) was half-way expecting however, was a way down…or up. Yet as the passage went on in a wide-circumference turn to the left meter after meter, there were no stairs nor incline, up or down. It was perfectly level, from what his internal sense could tell him without any outside reference.

"Feels like we've been half-way through the island by now," Sally commented as they came up on a sharp turn to the left. Although she had almost whispered, her voice echoed just slightly.

The Pokémon were then whispering among themselves before Grovyle halted everyone in taking the first peek around the corner.

"Vyle rower." With a motion of his hand, he gave the all clear.

Unsurprisingly, around the corner was more passage, but much shorter. In fact…was that was a dim glow ahead, or a trick of the darkness? The same moment he thought that, the flashlight beams caught something on the floor, revealed as some flat slabs when they reached it. Kneeling with his swampert counterpart, he found one of the slabs had part of the sun-type design on it, as well as a small hole in the shape of the crystal…

"I think this was a door, or maybe a seal," the swampert whispered after a few words from Grovyle who had hopped to the other side.

With Sally illuminating other fragments of the former large slab, it became apparent the design had covered the entire thing, supporting the theory.

Blaze yipped quietly, getting a nod from the swampert. Translating: "He thinks it was forced open. And I agree. I'm also getting a bad feeling about this."

Leo started feeling prickly with the passage very confining all of the sudden. At over six inches thick, breaking the door slabs would have been no small matter, even for a Pokémon. And looking ahead, there really did appear to be a dim glow. The end of the passage…to what? "That might be another chamber down there." Glancing around, he saw expressions of concern.

"Outside?" Lonny asked.

"Too dim…" Sally answered as everyone strained to look. "What are the odds this just happened?" gesturing to the broken slabs.

Scraping a claw over one of the slabs, Grovyle remarked something.

"No dust," the swampert translated.

Quickly focusing on the floor ahead, there seemed to be something like footprints left in the light dust…but too indistinct to identify. The multiple footprints before the door didn't surprise them, considering bird Pokémon could have ventured into the tunnel hundreds or thousands of times over the years. But after…

"Maybe we're expected," Lonny said, almost too quietly to be heard.

Sally grimaced. "That makes sense, but…"

"Why was this forced open?" Leo finished with a whisper. Shining the flashlight over the rest of the passage, no further obstacles were visible. "Let's turn off the flashlights and go quietly the rest of the way." Seeing the nods, he and Sally extinguished the lights, and they moved through the rest of the passage as quietly as they could, each holding on to the other so as to stay together and not run into everyone else.

It wasn't long before the dim light was finally recognizable as firelight, and before they reached the end it became apparent it was what he had guessed: a chamber…one that only grew in size as they neared the exit. Cautiously, they stepped out of the passage one by one and into the large room, all the light seemed to be coming from a single torch, far to the side.

The room itself stretched upward more than a dozen meters, appearing at least double or triple that in a rough square shape, though the single torch didn't illuminate everything. The immediate major feature of the room was a large, barely visible engraving in the floor of the same sun-like symbol they'd now seen a few times. Along one side of the room was one rather more impressive feature: a wide trench, starting from where the passage entered all the way to the far wall, comprising a good one-third of the entire floor area!

There was…also an odd smell, not very strong and not anything like stale air, but more organic…something that wasn't present in the passage.

Moving the couple steps from the passage entrance to the edge, Leo looked down with his counterpart and the other Pokémon, suddenly fighting the slight push Lonny gave when she came up behind him! However far the trench went down, it was quickly lost in complete darkness after only a couple feet in the low light, although it felt deep. Keeping the duration short, he pulsed his flashlight, revealing for only a brief moment they were on the edge of a steep cliff…with no visible bottom!

"There's no one here," Lonny whispered, drawing all their attentions back to the rest of the large room.

Again, except for the fact the torch didn't illuminate everything, it was indeed empty. But where the torch was placed…

"Murals," his counterpart breathed.

At the very edge of the torch light there did appear to be some multi-color drawings on the other side of the room…

"Who lit that torch?" Sally asked as they all started moving toward it.

Leo looked around one more time, hoping his eyes were getting better adjusted to the darkness, but there still were areas he just couldn't see into. All the Pokémon were likewise looking, yet even with their slightly better night vision his counterpart admitted they had the same problem.

"I think there's a pile of rubble in that one corner…" his counterpart continued.

From which there at once came a noise…something rustling against something, a sudden intake of breath…

Leo felt his heart instantly pounding as they all stopped dead, straining to listen.

Straining wasn't needed as the sound evolved into like someone waking up, then something big getting up…

"Who's there?" Sally asked out loud.

The noise of who or whatever it was stopped. Then in a deep, growly voice: "Others? How did you get…" A quiet growl. "Well, however so, you should not be here; I'll have to kill you pests." At once, that part of the room started glowing with considerable blinding glare…

"Wait a minute!" Sally yelled. "Who…"

"It's attacking!" the swampert screamed as Blaze started yipping.

Leo felt himself pushed to the floor in an instant, hitting it hard with Sally and Lonny as a beam of bright energy crackled just overhead, lighting up the floor greatly! Hitting the wall behind all of them, part of the rock exploded under the obviously powerful blast, spraying shards all over the place. On top, Grovyle shielded him and Sally from some of it while just behind, his counterpart had plastered his blue skinned self on the stone just in time.

The swampert was immediately up though, letting loose a water pulse at the…whatever it was. In the now flickering torchlight, a shape emerged…like a dragon-type Pokémon of some type given its wings…yet obviously it could speak human language!

In the wake of the water pulse, Blaze and Grovyle both charged with flames from the former partly illuminating the Pokémon's dark body as they struck home, Grovyle's glowing leaf-blades hitting their marks somewhere a second later to elicit a new growl...

Leo got up partly, since his counterpart, Blaze and Grovyle were going to make short work of this other Pokémon. Then…a quick movement by the Pokémon…Blaze was screaming as both he and Grovyle went flying! Grovyle hit the wall by the entrance and slid down while Blaze was tumbling along the floor, barely avoiding going over the cliff.

While thinking of how to help, his counterpart raged something in Poké speech before releasing another water pulse from nearly underneath the shadowy dragon, striking it seemingly in the face. The Pokémon responded by slamming a hand into the ground, nearly striking home…then thrusting its arm sideways, getting his counterpart anyway and crumpling him to the ground!

Blaze, somehow, managed to jump back up to charge partway in and release more flames. The dragon dodged, deeper into shadow, before releasing its own much more powerful attack of flames…engulfing the infernape! Blaze screeched and before he could do anything, the other Pokémon appeared to charge from out of the deep darkness, crumbling Blaze to the ground with a swinging arm much like the swampert a few seconds before! With another move, the infernape was sent tumbling backward one more time.

Grovyle leaped in, only to get rebuffed by another heavy swipe of an arm or tail. He literally impacted the mural wall face-first…

Another water pulse from the side, and the dark shape of the dragon turned to respond with a growl and a swing…

"Leo, we need to do something!" Sally screeched. "It's too strong!"

But what? Leo fought to think under the quickly unfolding battle. He could only see Blaze clearly, and he looked about to pass out!

Next to him and Sally, Lonny was growling and before he could grab her leg, she had jumped up and went charging forward, spear first!

"Idiot human!" the dragon roared, forming something like an energy ball in a clawed hand in a mere instant. Thrusting, it shot the energy ball at the former swampert…

Lonny stopped dead as the energy ball exploded just in front of her...curving around an invisible sphere.

She used her Protect… Thank God!

The dragon hissed as Lonny continued her charge, ducking a swipe from its clawed arm before forcing it to back up a step with a spear thrust.

It was also enough of a delay that Blaze and Grovyle were back on their feet (somehow) and surrounding the Pokémon as his counterpart was picking himself back up from some swipe that has struck. The dragon seemed to take note of the renewed effort as it dodged another poke by Lonny and backed up once again into deeper shadow…

"Light!" Leo hissed to Sally, the idea surging in his head. "Shine the flashlights in its eyes!" Almost as soon as he said it, they had both of their lights at full intensity and aimed at the dragon's head! And for the first time, he could see the dragon was truly dark reddish in color, with a head resembling a charizard's, though slightly different. It also seemed rather large…

The dragon hissed again…with a tone of more annoyance than anything as it tried shielding its eyes with a clawed hand…and its other beginning to glow a bright white… "You damned _pests._ I said _die!_"

Leo almost couldn't believe it as the Pokémon immediately swung it's illuminated hand in a wide horizontal arc in front of it. A white, glowing arc erupted in mid air, exploding outward with instantaneous speed. Neither Blaze, Grovyle, his counterpart nor Lonny could react, so quick was the movement. All four went flying backward, and with the wave expanding down to the floor, he and Sally were joining them before he could comprehend it!

There were only a handful of times he'd experienced getting hit with a Pokémon attack. But after slamming against the rock wall next to the passageway, he was very certain this was at the top of the power scale! Sliding down the wall like Grovyle had a couple times already, he felt as if every nerve in his body was screaming in pain, not unlike having one's flesh scraped off! Sally…she was right next to him, curled up around the flashlight she still held.

Somehow, to the side near the trench, his counterpart was starting to get up, but he looked…hurt, unsteady. Blaze was groaning on the floor near Grovyle, who was crawling…barely…

They…they needed to get away! This Pokémon was…too powerful! Looking down the passage, he spotted his flashlight knocked several meters down it… But that wasn't a way out; it just ended at the cliff where the plane was! If that creature followed them…they would end up having to jump to their deaths!

Through watery vision, he watched the creature take several steps toward them…growling…dark wings partly spread in the dim light…

He moved himself to cradle Sally; she was shaking.

Somehow…he had to protect her…

Hearing another roar through his pounding eardrums, he looked past the dragon Pokémon to witness his counterpart attacking from the side, hitting the dragon with a water pulse before charging in with a glowing blue fist, roaring in Poké speech.

"Too weak!" the dragon roared back, intercepting the swampert's attack with his own swinging arm. At first, glowing fist and clawed hand hit with seemingly equal strength. But the dragon punched his other arm, nailing his counterpart directly in the chest…sending him flying again…

Leo gasped as the swampert flew over the edge of the trench!

"Leo!" Lonny screamed.

"Now you die for coming here and interrupting me," it roared in turning back around to face them. With both its hands glowing yet again, this time with an pinkish hue, it brought both of them quickly together before aiming them…at everyone.

Leo moved to shield his unconscious wife as much as he could. "I'm sorry," he breathed to her as everything went blindingly white…

* * *

Grovyle…Sally...Leo...Lonny…_Blaze!_

_I'm sorry…_

Leo knew he was falling from the stomach-in-his-mouth sensation and the blast of air even though he couldn't see anything. Any second he was going to hit bottom and even as a Pokémon, he knew he wasn't going to survive such a fall. So this was it: he was going to die. After being through so much...this was how it was going to end!

But after that quick succession of thoughts coming with the adrenaline jolt from sheer terror in realizing his end, his thoughts went elsewhere…

…to the fact there was nothing more he could do to help his friends!

For just an instant, light reflected from high above, then pitch black again.

What was happening to them?

That Pokémon was intent on killing them for whatever reason. Blaze… Grovyle…Lonny…

They had to defeat it! They had to live! _Please!_

But…could they?

Whatever Pokémon it was, it was unbelievably strong, on the order of Dialga or Palkia! No, _more_ powerful. He and Blaze were able to defeat both Dialga and Palkia (separately) when they were still a mudkip and chimchar (strong ones, granted). But this…_creature_ almost looked like a charizard, from what he could see in the dim light and glare. But how could it be? It spoke human. It even used something resembling spatial rend…Palkia's specialty!

…

…

…? Shouldn't he have hit bottom by now? Just how deep was…

And now that he came out of the shell of thoughts he'd formed in coping with the unpleasant end awaiting him…the feeling of falling was gone…replaced by…being surrounded by…energy? There was the faint feeling of prickliness of such, but...

...was he already dead? Had the impact been that quick and painless?

Only…whatever it was surrounding him certainly wasn't helping the developing massive pain in his chest any. Perhaps he had some broken ribs from that last hit. Which wouldn't make sense if he was dead.

Actually it was about the only thing he could feel beside the faint prickliness. Certainly no type of motion, but from the sound of his own breathing, he thought he was still in mid-air, with no feeling of anything near him. Empty space.

What was going on?

His heart was still beating fast, but had slowed quite a bit when he suddenly felt solid, cool rock under his feet after a few moments. And then…all his weight was back on them as the prickliness faded. He nearly collapsed in being forced to stand again.

Once again his heart again was pounding to make his chest hurt even more, but he stayed standing in the utter darkness. If he fainted, well…it was already dark! But where the hell… Except for his labored breathing and his own throbbing heart beat, there was total silence…like a tomb.

No…there _was_ light…

To his left, he saw it. A bluish-white beam and spot, far down what seemed a tunnel. Was that…one of the flashlights? But knocked over the edge of the trench, surely it would have broke!

He moved toward it slowly, fighting the pain such moving produced. It turned out to be further than it looked with the darkness making it hard to tell distance, but he eventually reached it. It was indeed one of the two flashlights…where it had apparently slid all the way to the broken slabs in the passageway…

…which meant…

Quickly grabbing and pointing it the way he'd come, that was the chamber back there; he was back up on top!

He ignored his intense pain in racing back to the large room, shining the light in every direction, praying he wouldn't find dead bodies there…or whatever that creature was. His prayer had been answered…but…

…the room was empty! No bodies, dead or alive, were anywhere, even in the farthest reaches of the room! Even the torch was gone.

Where…_was everyone?_

He cried out each of their names, the only response being his own voice dying in echoes.

Thinking maybe they had escaped back to the flying craft's chamber, he raced all the way back through the long curving passage, the bright light of outside blinding him for a few moments at the other end. But even looking inside the craft, no one was to be found. With a sudden horrid thought, he went to the edge of the high-up cave to stare down at the almost non-existent coast far below. This time, he was truly relived there was nothing there. But that meant the only other place Blaze, Grovyle, Lonny, Sally and his human self could be was the same trench he was knocked into.

Wouldn't he have heard them falling after him? Like screaming or something?

More slowly with adrenaline fading, he returned to the large room and methodically went over every square meter of the room with the light, including the ceiling. Nothing had changed, it was as empty as before.

With growing desperation he shouted everyone's names and going to the edge of the trench, kept calling down into its depths, the bottom of which even the intense beam of the flashlight couldn't penetrate.

Finally, his voice horse and his chest making such yelling increasingly painful, he fell silent. It was clear they were not there. Blaze, Lonny, Grovyle, Sally, his human self: they were gone. Utterly gone! Along with that accursed Pokémon.

Without a trace.

He was absolutely...alone.

**End - Part I**


	9. Chapter 9: Thread

_Thanks to __heartofdarkness for the review of the last chapter! Sorry this chapter took a while to post. This chapter will also be the shortest of the story.  
_

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* * *

_**Part II**

**Chapter IX: Thread**

Leo stared at the large mural on the wall, illuminating parts of it with the small flashlight held in his large three-fingered hand. He'd been staring at it, but not really seeing it, his thoughts a jumbled mix of raw emotions. How long he'd stood there he didn't know; in the silent darkness all sense of time was gone. But it was the only feature in the room worth staring at…other than the inlaid sun-like symbol in the floor…

…which he had grown to hate! Damn who or whatever led them there!

That wasn't the only thing. The particular blue-white color of the LED flashlight was also starting to irritate him. If only that torch was still there, he'd ask Blaze to light it…

The sudden thought of his partner, which he had forgotten about for only a mere moment, overwhelmingly hurt once again. His partner…his best friend who was always with him since he woke up as a Pokémon for the first time, was gone. Lonny, his lover, was gone. Grovyle, who had been through a lot with him and Blaze, from when they'd first met on Earth a year and a half ago, was gone. Sally, his love when he had been human in the Future-That-No-Longer-Exists, was gone. And his human self, who he was before the time-line split and his change into a Pokémon…was gone.

Were they transported? Were they…_dead?_ If they were transported, it had been clear the charizard-like Pokémon was trying to kill them. Maybe it did so after taking them somewhere…

Was _that_ the bright flash he saw while he was falling?

Palkia of course had such a teleport ability…and this creature had an attack just like Palkia's spacial rend attack…

…but there was no way it was Palkia!

Palkia was gone anyway; having been dispatched along with Dialga. Yet no mere charizard, the closest he could identify the shape that was half-hidden by darkness, could have that much power! Except…

Could Palkia have been…changed? And then brought here?

It seemed too much to believe.

Maybe…they really had been transported back in time, like they had all thought/feared…

Closing his eyes for a moment, he opened them again on the mural. Perhaps his only thread of hope was to figure out if there was a clue contained in it. Although large, it was rather simple, on the order of the one in the passage that led to the golden craft, although slightly more complex.

Near the floor, a large elliptical circle and the sun-like symbol contained in it seemed to represent the current room with its engraved symbol in the floor. But in the middle was a rather generic-looking semi-stick figure that could have represented any of several dozen types of Pokémon (or human). The most striking feature was the two wide, jagged lines surrounding the figure, colored in white and yellow.

From there, a thin broken line lead away a few meters to a large circle, at least double his height. Dead center of that, a wide triangle was drawn on a fat brown line, with many horizontal lines and upside-down "U"s drawn inside the triangle, around which were three small, solid circles. One blue, one white, one black. And over the tip of the triangle, the sun symbol once again, colored gold.

Sighing, he looked back to the first drawing, where there was only one other point of interest, that being some red symbols or text in a couple lines…similar those in the flying craft and equally undecipherable.

So…what did all this get him?

Since he was forced to guess, he guessed it indicated a transport somewhere. To where, he had no clue whatsoever. What the heck was that triangle? Obviously if he could read the text, he might have a better idea. But Grovyle was the ancient language expert among them!

Or had been…

He sighed. Even then, this language his green skinned friend didn't know anyway.

Running his large finger over the carved letters (?), he felt their shapes, hoping somehow he could figure out their meaning. He had to; if they were still alive…he _absolutely_ had to!

But he needed help! Who else would be able to read the language? Chalesti might know someone…

Wait…how was he going to get back? Would the craft return him? It didn't seem to work once they arrived…

Punching his fist against the rock wall in frustration, anger and sorrow also came welling up uncontrollably. By the moment the empty space in his heart was growing, as were the tears in his eyes. They started falling as he continued to hit the wall, harder and harder. What was he supposed to do? What _could_ he do? Everyone was gone! All his closest friends and loves…

"Those with the power may pass!"

Leo nearly jumped out of his blue skin and tripped in whipping around, pointing the flashlight every which way to find the source of the high-pitched voice, ready to attack. Finding something halfway across the chamber, he did his best to hold the light on it with his suddenly shaking hand. "Who…" In his current state, he could barely speak, his already hurting chest tightening up even further as his heart pounded with the massive jolt of adrenaline.

In the beam a meter off the floor floated a Pokémon…one he'd never seen before. A light blue mostly with some light green and yellow on its hands and head and with two tails ending in small bulbs, it somewhat resembled Azelf, crossed maybe with a celebi…and something else thrown in for good measure. It was also about their size.

As non-dangerous as it appeared, considering the other Pokémon they encountered in that chamber had attacked them, he also instinctively prepared to attack…

"It says that!" it spoke again with its small mouth, with a disarming cheerfulness. "Staring at it for so long you have, you silly thing!"

"Who are you?" He was still surprised, but also quickly resentful at its apparent cheerfulness. Couldn't it see how wet his face was?

The Pokémon tilted it's head. "You hurt."

Obviously he was hurting; his closest friends and partner were gone! Until with a hand, it crossed it's small chest in a slashing motion. Then looking down at himself for really the first time since the fight, he saw the massive bruise across his mid-chest; even his white pigmented skin couldn't mask the blue-black…

He didn't care. "Do you know what happened to my friends?" He backed up in caution as it didn't reply at first, but instead floated over to stare at the mural, it's tails moving gently with the motion. Its unfamiliar scent hit him, making its way through the other scent of the chamber, presumably from the charizard-like creature.

After a moment: "They left with that other Pokémon. It had the power." It didn't move much, other than tilt its head slightly in continuing to stare at the mural.

Since it seemed to know something: "That Pokémon, what was it?"

Facing him, it appeared suddenly upset in the flashlight's beam, its yellow eyes seemingly looking through him to some other point in the chamber. "It came a not long time ago. It was scary and I hid. Not many come here…it was the first to come in here…I think."

Which explained the broken doors? Then something else about how it said that… "How long have you been here?"

Smiling again: "A long time…I think…don't know…for a while, because I'm the Guardian! But that creature was too powerful; I had to hide. All I could do was save you from going splat, he he he!" And with a motion of one hand coming down against its other, it mimed just that…and still with a smile!

Definitely…not your typical Pokémon, Leo thought in not the kindest of terms. "Well…thanks, but where did my friends go? That creature was trying to kill us."

"They gone. Not here anymore."

"I can see that!" he nearly roared, gesturing to the empty chamber around them, his already almost non-existent patience nearly gone. "Gone _where?_"

The floating Pokémon's expression saddened. "You don't need yell…" It faced the mural again, saying nothing more.

_It_ was upset? Just because he raised his voice? Try losing everyone who was close to you! "Look, I'm sorry, but I hurt and that creature tried to kill us, and might have suc…" He swallowed. That thought…he could not bear. Not right now. "My friends mean everything to me. I have to find and help them. Please." For his own sake, he had to believe they were alive.

It still didn't speak for a good moment, but did float in front of him to the other half of the mural. Raising one slender pale blue arm, it pointed at the triangle in the middle of the circle.

"Where is that? How do I get there?"

"You need power. Then you may pass."

"What kind of power? You mean a particular Pokémon energy?"

Shrugging. "Perhaps. But you have too little. You can't do it. You too weak."

Was that an insult? But in front of him was the (self-described) _Guardian_… "Can _you_ take me there?"

In an instant it was laughing, though only for a brief moment. "Me not have enough either. Must be someone else."

So…if a lot of Pokémon energy was needed (how to use it was another matter, but that was a bridge to be crossed when they got to it to borrow a human phrase)… "Well, I could get a lot of Pokémon together and…"

"No! Must be one!"

"A single individual?"

It nodded. "That creature had lots…very _much_ lots! But he didn't know how to use it, how to make everything work. But your friends helped him find that. That is sad…"

Great. Now it was trying to blame them for something!

"…but can't change it now!" Shrugging it's tiny shoulders: "Oh well."

Once again it was smiling, making him incredibly irritated! Grimacing, he fought to focus and fight down his emotions (a little). "OK, so I need a Pokémon with a lot of energy." Wigglytuff came to mind, but he and Blaze together had defeated him (and all the other Guild members) for the graduation exam. Dialga or Palkia would be the obvious choices, but also obviously they were not options. "Well, there's a darkrai I suppose I could ask…" In a one-on-one battle, Darkrai probably stood a darn decent chance of beating him. Even now that he had evolved into a swampert since their battle about three years ago.

Again, the guardian laughed. "Darkrais certainly aren't."

That was…surprising. Alright, then what other Pokémon did he know who were more powerful, not including Dialga or Palkia?

…

"A celebi?"

"Celebi's not either," the Pokémon said in a teasing way as it floated around him in a circle, its tails again swaying with its motion. Raising its arms upward: "_Lots_ of energy, I said!"

Well…heck! "Just how much energy does a Pokémon _need _to have for this? And what the heck is your name, anyway?"

"Lots!" it replied. "Akri."

"Akri?"

"What you want?" it asked, stopping its moving around him.

Oh, Akri was its name. Something else he wanted to ask was its gender, realizing he really couldn't tell (without examining in a way that would be rather rude, that was). The usual indicators were…missing, or rather contradictory, which in itself was odd. But it wasn't important. What was, was finding a Pokémon who had the (apparently) gobs of energy needed to…pass to wherever his friends went…and that creature.

More energy than either Darkrai or Celebi had. And with Dialga and Palkia gone…

Then…his eyes widened with a particular remembrance jolting through him; there was _one_ other who almost certainly had enough.

But…

…hell!

He sighed, closing his eyes. In any case, the first step was to get off the island; he needed to return to Treasure Town! And there was only one avenue to do that. At once he moved for the passageway, although his throbbing chest complained about it.

"You leave already?" Akri asked behind him in a somewhat sad tone, but obviously keeping up with him.

"I have to get back." And if he couldn't get the plane to work, there might be one other option, that being swimming. But it'd be a very long swim! At least he was a water type and could float, but there was the little matter of scaling down an almost perfectly vertical cliff!

He mentally slapped his forehead. Akri could lower him! It raised him up to the top of the chamber, after all! Maybe…it could even levitate him all the way down…

"I go with you," Akri announced after they were in the passage.

Leo paused for a half-step and almost asked why, but having the self-proclaimed Guardian of the chamber with him might be useful. In fact…perhaps he should take it to Azelf, Uxie or Mesprit. It wasn't a stretch to think they were related somehow.

"Ooo…pretty!" the little floating Pokémon exclaimed as they exited the passage on the other end. Floating toward the golden craft, it raised its tails as it went along the one side and then over the top, turning itself in a circle as it seemed to take it all in. "It all gold!"

"Yes, it's pretty," Leo replied quietly in watching. _And brought all of them into this trap!_ The other thing he noticed was it was almost dark out. Evening! Stepping up into the craft, he retrieved the crystal from where he had set it and stood before the front control panel, especially glad he hadn't put the crystal in the satchel that was now with Blaze…wherever that was. In the window, he saw Akri's reflection as it floated up next to him.

Curiously, it lowered itself enough to touch the sun-like symbol where the crystal went. "Do you know what that symbol means?"

The Pokémon seemed to almost be in a trance for a moment. "Did this…machine, bring you?"

It almost acted that it knew something about it. "Yes, me and my friends."

After another moment, it quickly floated back up. Turning to him, "I don't know this machine. But symbol responds if it meant for you."

_Really?_ "Yeah, it has certainly responded alright already," replying sarcastically. With a huff, he set the crystal in its spot in the middle of the symbol. He didn't expect it to do anything…yet the symbol started glowing like it had before. In short order, the hatch closed and the plane started floating! Only it wasn't moving forward. Not one bit.

Akri floated to the display, peering down to it. "Where we go?"

Leo looked over at the now illuminated rectangle as well. As before, a map was being displayed, the small green circle of the island in the middle surrounded by all blue. There was also some green text as well in the same undecipherable language as on the mural and the symbols on the buttons. The text was new…

"I need to return to Treasure Town for now."

"Select it."

"What? Select it? How?" He looked up at Akri, confused.

"It say scroll map and select destination."

Did it ever stop smiling? He glared at the screen, noticing the small green arrows along each edge for the first time. Touching one with his large blue fingertip, the map did actually scroll! It wasn't long before he had the map scrolled over the ocean to the west, over the southeast islands…finally finding where Treasure Town was located. Of course it wasn't like human-made maps, where towns, roads and mountains were all neatly labeled. But he knew well the spot on the small continent where his home was, and it was soon centered on the screen.

"Touch it," Akri guided.

Again with his finger, he pressed the spot on the screen and a large green circle formed around it. Then…more text.

"Touch the green button," Akri continued, obviously still reading from the screen.

Almost mindlessly, Leo followed the Guardian's instructions and immediately the walls of the room outside of the plane began moving past as he suddenly felt forward motion. Akri started drifting backward until it raced forward to hold the control panel. With a sigh, he looked behind them to the back bulkhead, but in the direction of the large chamber deep in the island. "I'll return…I promise."

The craft left the chamber, out into the last rays of the setting sun. He worried slightly the vehicle might lose energy as the sun seemed to have a lot to do with powering it, but the plane kept flying, proving it had some other source of power.

Just like the Rainbow Stoneship.

And on the memory of that…his tears started welling anew.

* * *

Leo just wanted to be by himself and think. Well…cry actually, as that was what he really felt like doing. For the next four or so hours, he knew there was nothing else he could do while the craft flew them to his chosen destination. Thinking of which…it was probably going to create one heck of a stir when the plane landed…depending on where exactly it did land. Still it was something he just didn't want to think about at the moment. Though sooner or later he'd have to think of what to tell Chip.

Oh heavens! Chip…

First things first, though. He needed to curl up and morn…pretty badly. Irritatingly, not long after the plane left the island Akri floated back to him.

"Me hungry. Have food?"

Almost absently, he waved to the bare interior before moping out a reply, "See any?"

The small light-blue Pokémon turned completely around, during which its expression went from cheerful to sad. "No food."

No, they had all put on their packs or took their satchels before they went through the passage. In short, wherever everyone had gone, everything they had went with them. That included all food. Which meant he and Akri would have to wait until they reached Treasure Town. Not that he was all that hungry. His chest was now hurting more then he thought possible, and finding a comfortable way to lay on the bare metal floor was impossible, the slight vibration the craft made only magnifying the discomfort. "You said you were there a long time. How did you find food? Can you teleport to somewhere?"

Floating lower to look him in the eyes, it shook its petit head. "No teleport. Berries on top of island. But I sleep mostly, not need much food."

"Just how long were you there, exactly?"

"Exactly?" Cocking it's head, it stayed perfectly motionless for a moment, seemingly frozen. Then: "Don't know. Just a while. Maybe long while. Don't remember. Hatched there, I think. Birds visit sometime." It smiled again. "They liked me, think me funny, but they didn't pay much attention mostly."

He sighed, lightly in deference to his chest. Being there for a long time by mostly itself could explain its weirdness…or craziness.

Seeing its tail bulbs move almost to his nose, he looked up again in time to see it reaching its arms out over him. Then there were two light touches on his head fins. "What are you doing?" asking in monotone.

"You are…a marshtomp? No. A swampert…"

"Yes, a swampert." Formerly a human…but he didn't feel up to going into all that. Nor would it be wise at the moment he thought, without knowing more about this strange Pokémon.

The touches lingered for a while before Akri pulled back and lingered in front of him, giving him a strange look as if looking through him rather than at him.

"Something wrong?" Which seemed like a silly question considering everything.

Continuing its nearly absent stare: "I…haven't seen a swampert for…a very long time…I think…"

Which gave him a sudden, rather jolting thought! "Akri, that place you're the guardian of, does it transport through time? Is it a _time_ portal?"


	10. Chapter 10: Losses

_There is some artwork that goes with this chapter. Check out my profile page for the link._

* * *

**Chapter X: Losses**

It was bright.

Leo Hanson cracked open his eyes to the glare of barely warm, muted sunlight. He was on his back, the backpack between him and the ground with his head tilted back and looking up at a blue sky and some clouds, tinted orange. God, his neck was stiff! Barely moving his head toward the sun, it looked like morning. They were outside…

On top of the island?

No…there were mountains around them. It was high up, grey…and cold; he could see his breath. Trying to move, more than just his neck felt stiff.

So how did they get…

That Pokémon creature…it was preparing to kill them!

Jolting upright painfully with heart pounding, he found Sally, Lonny, Grovyle and Blaze asleep around him, but the charizard-like Pokémon who had seemed bent on ending their existence was nowhere in sight.

Well, that was a relief, but…where were they? Taking a calmer look around, there were mountains to the sides, suggesting a range of some type, the highest of them with a bit of snow.

They were transported to some other area of the Poké world?

Closer in, he noticed the five of them seemed to be inside of a stone circle, though it was only a few short rectangular stones set on their ends in a wide circumference around them, with perhaps a couple toppled. There were also some flat stones on the ground as if forming a paved area though most of it appearing buried.

And…there was someone missing.

His counterpart, where was…

Memory hit as a sudden breeze drove home the fact that it was indeed cold, and he was in only a tee-shirt! Just like Sally and Lonny. Stiff and numb from the cold, he crawled the short distance to Sally to gently shake her. Several heart-pounding moments later, she stirred…to immediately draw in her legs and arms into a fetal position.

Cracking open her eyes: "It's cold…" Then opening them up wide, raised her head to look around. "Where…"

"Don't know. Just woke up myself. Hold on." Thankfully the packs were still attached to their backs, but unstrapping them with cold-numbed fingers took some effort. Finally free of the of the weights, they quickly had the thin blankets unpacked and wrapped around them, Lonny and each of the two Pokémon. They all started waking up at that point, though Lonny had the hardest time; she was shivering almost uncontrollably.

Helping wrap her blanket a little tighter around her, he heard both Grovyle and Blaze talking to him in the tone of questions. "Don't know," answering after guessing what they were asking, being likely either "where are we?" or "what happened?".

The infernape was the first to stand to immediately start looking around in all directions before stumbling to one of the circle stones. Shortly he was walking/running around in a frantic manner, kicking up small broken rocks as he went.

Sitting up, Lonny was also looking around. Slowly, as if her mouth was full of cotton: "Where's Leo?"

Sally half crawled, half walked over with the small cook-stove they hardly had to use before in hand. But she stopped, also looking the area over more carefully.

That was right: she was already unconscious when his counterpart went over the edge. He debated whether to tell Lonny or not, but by the sudden widening of her eyes, realized she'd seen what happened to him.

"No…NO! Leo! Answer me! Where are you?" She rose to half stumble around in looking around, just like Blaze.

Grovyle said something, which only elicited a sharp response from her. "Don't you dare say that!"

"What happened to him?" Sally asked carefully, her expression full of dread.

He swallowed with the shock of it now fully sinking in. "Just after you were knocked out, he…was knocked over the edge. He fell into that trench."

Sally froze, her mouth partly open.

The look on her face said she knew what that meant. "No Pokémon could have survived that fall," saying it anyway. That trench had to have been at least a several hundred feet deep, considering the range of their flashlights!

"NO!" Lonny screamed. Falling to her knees nearby: "Leo…my little sweetie…he can't be dead…"

Behind them, Blaze was starting to wail.

"Oh…God," Sally said.

* * *

"There's nothing here; we need to go," Sally whispered through chattering teeth.

The last while was miserable, and it wasn't just the cold. Blaze had at least stopped wailing…to now just sit with a vacant look about his yellow and blue eyes, staring toward nowhere. Lonny was closest to the camp stove, head down with blanket draped over her. Every now and then he heard a new sob, though it was becoming infrequent.

Utterly silent, Grovyle stayed beside him and not showing much emotion as usual, though Leo knew he was also torn up inside. After having lived with his friend and partner for well over twenty years, he could tell.

As for himself…he had watched himself die.

He'd very nearly saw the same thing on Fore-Nine island a year and a half ago, but his counterpart managed to survive, probably thanks to the small distortion that the swampert and infernape shared by virtue of being from the future (at that time).

This time was different. That distortion wouldn't have provided any protection against a several hundred-foot fall. And from the quick look he had of the trench, the face of the cliff was sheer – no outcrops, no ledges, nothing to break a fall or to even really grab on to…assuming one could during a fast drop. Unless one was a bird or could otherwise float, the fall would be lethal. Period.

Yet as much as he felt like mourning for the swampert, he needed to think about their survival at the moment. Although he couldn't even guess what happened to bring them to their present location, that Pokémon creature did succeed in killing one of them and could be coming for the rest of them at that very moment. Furthermore, they couldn't stay on the mountain for very long. Not only was it really cold (though apparently above freezing given some dew on nearby rocks), there didn't appear to be any food around, either plant or animal. It was utterly rocky and barren. They had, maybe if they really stretched it, five days of food with them, and they were probably going to need most of that in getting down off the mountain they were on.

However they got there.

Though the change of location seemed to have saved their lives for the moment.

Idly he wondered if the creature itself transported them instead of killing them? But it seemed pretty intent on doing away with them…and very few Pokémon had such a teleport ability anyway. In fact, he knew of only Palkia who could.

Add that to the growing list of unknowns.

While huddling with Sally for another half moment as they shared blankets and body heat, he stared at the circle stones around them. Six roughly square chiseled stones in a circle, with a bunch of large pavers forming like a base or floor, but most buried by the dirt or gravel which was the ground around them. Something about one of them caught his eye though; with everything, he hadn't noticed the pattern that seemed to be nearly buried…

Moving over a bit where the hint of a pattern became covered over, he shoved away some of the debris with his freezing hands. It didn't take much to reveal more of the pattern, confirming what he thought it was.

"It's that sun pattern," Sally said, standing over him.

Nodding, he felt torn between happy and not. Seeing it here could mean they were exactly where they were supposed to be? On the other hand, that symbol seemed to be tied to their misfortune as of late.

"Damned thing," Lonny suddenly spat. "I don't care to see it ever again!"

She was staring at it from her spot almost over the stove, her green eyes puffed and dull, before looking quickly down again.

Time to get away from there, he decided. Standing up with cold-induced stiffness, "We need get moving to someplace warmer and with food. We also shouldn't be here if that Pokémon comes looking for us."

Grovyle got up right away, hauling his and Sally's packs to them while Sally shut off the stove to start packing it. As Grovyle helped the two of them harness the packs to their backs, he watched Lonny and Blaze. Lonny eventually started moving too, perhaps more from the loss of her heat source than anything, though she made one last glaring glace down to the partially uncovered pattern. Blaze wasn't moving though, and remained staring off to nowhere as the slight breeze ruffled his long mane.

Blaze. He'd suffered through having his partner 'die' once already and lived many months before Dialga resurrected the swampert from non-existence. Of course he and Blaze were both on Four-Nine island when the swampert nearly died the second time. But now a third time…

Sally kneeled before the infernape, putting her hands on either side of this red skinned and white-haired face. "Blaze, we need to get going. We can't survive here."

The fire-type Pokémon started mumbling something, apparently causing a sharp rebuke from Grovyle.

"There was nothing you could have done!" Lonny said angrily, nearly shouting. "Even as a swampert I would've been beaten too! I've never faced such a strong Pokémon before, so don't you start thinking you didn't try hard enough! Blame isn't going to help any of us!"

Lonny surprised him with her outburst. Yet it was true; that one Pokémon seemed unnaturally strong.

But Blaze still wasn't moving.

Leo sighed quietly; there was something...from one of their stories, that came to mind… "Blaze, Leo would want you to keep going…to go on living, and not linger here. _I_ want you to keep going and to come with us. We need to do our best and survive now."

The infernape finally looked up at him, his white hair-framed red face blank, frozen.

Stepping to him, he held out his hand. "Come on. Let's get off this mountain and to someplace warmer and with food. And…do you have any idea where we are on this Poké planet?"

Blaze took a deep breath, taking his hand in finally rising into the typical infernape standing stance. Looking around a bit, he shook his head.

Lonny asked him something; translating the response: "This area doesn't look familiar to him. He's pretty sure we aren't on the continent Treasure Town is on. It doesn't have mountains like this."

"We need to pick a direction," Sally said.

"There might be someplace we're meant to go," Leo half mumbled, looking down at the symbol again. "Actually, I really don't care anymore. We just need to get home somehow." He really didn't care; the expedition had already proved far more costly than he could of thought!

"Agreed," Sally replied with a weary tone as Lonny and the Pokémon nodded. After a few more seconds, she pointed southeast, toward the largest break in the mountain range. "There? I think I see forest down in that direction."

"Right", he replied in seeing the green there over the great distance. Looking to Lonny, she shrugged.

In a quiet, almost bitter voice: "If you want to ask me, it looks as good as any place; just so it's warm." As if making the point, she wrapped the blanket even tighter around her torso as she started shivering worse despite the rising sun and it's direct rays on them.

Making sure everyone was ready, basically meaning Blaze grabbing his satchel and Lonny taking her small pack and spear, Leo started leading the way down slope and toward the distant mountain gap. Judging as best he could of the distance, it was going to be a many-day journey to get all the way down.

Nothing changed that assessment when they finally stopped that early evening to make camp. Although it was hard going, they made a lot of progress in getting down some in elevation and were several thousand feet lower than when they started. It also felt slightly warmer, helped by the sun's heat still radiating off the ground.

Now after a rather austere meal that did little to fill, they were sitting around their campfire, made possible from dead wood that was scattered around from the few twisted trees found at their lower elevation. In the moon's strengthening light from overhead, Leo guessed what most of them were thinking, although everyone was dead tired.

Of course during the climb down they had time, but they all had to concentrate on getting down; where to place one's feet on steep, loose material, how to get around a cliff face, climbing down a boulder field without setting one in motion. But now, thinking was all there was to do before sleep came.

His counterpart was gone.

Before he had met the swampert a year and a half prior, he knew nothing of the other timeline, about hurrying in it with his colleagues to complete the dimensional gate, using it to travel to the Poké world where the source of Earth's destruction was coming from, about being changed into a Pokémon and then saving the Poké world from its time paralysis with Grovyle (and Earth from its destruction as a result), and later saving it again from Darkrai's second plot. Before meeting, he was the only Leo in existence.

Now he was the only one again.

Yes they were the same person, but the few years in which they led very different lives made a world of difference. The other Leo wasn't so much him anymore, but had started to become a friend, a partner, more like any other person or Pokémon.

He was gone…and he hadn't realized how much it would hurt, how lonely he would feel.

Almost subconsciously, he reached both his arms to touch Grovyle and Sally, to bring them closer to him. Then in the deep twilight, he watched Blaze get up on the other side of the fire and move around it to crouch in front of him. The infernape spoke a long series of syllables, his eyes becoming more tear-filled.

After almost looking around for his counterpart for a translation, he turned to Lonny.

Speaking softly: "He says…you're the only Leo now. Asks if you would be his partner… be his friend like the other Leo. He says he can't bear to lose..."

Before Lonny could finish, the infernape moved forward to partly collapse into him; Leo wrapped his arms around the Pokémon as he would anyone grieving.

"Oh…Blaze," Sally said, adding her hands to help comfort him.

"Come on, take it easy," Leo soothed as the Pokémon seemed to lose any composure he once had. He rubbed his thickly haired back while Sally huddled in close, the two of them basically giving the infernape a very long, encompassing hug as the poor thing's tears seemed endless.

Blaze was his friend too, but although he knew the infernape and his counterpart shared a strong bond forged by great trials, he often found it difficult to fathom how strong it was. And now with that bond severed…seems he needed to be his counterpart's replacement.

Across the fire, he stole a glance at Lonny, seeing in the firelight her lonely stare back. She too was obviously hurting.

…and Chip…

Damn…his counterpart's demise was leaving several gaping wounds. How could he possibly do anything to help that?

After some minutes as the moon just started rising from behind one of the mountains, Blaze finally calmed down again and seemed content to sit on the rocky ground between him and Sally, Grovyle parking himself just behind, probably just to let Blaze know he was there too. Even Lonny inched a little closer, but kept some distance.

As Sally continued to rub Blaze's back, Leo kept his arm wrapped around him in thinking of something hopeful to say. Finally as Blaze leaned against him: "Didn't Chalesti mention she might have some colleagues who studied ancient things? I was thinking if we happen to be on her continent, maybe we could find them and see if they know anything about that symbol."

"What for?" Lonny asked, still sounding bitter.

"We might come across some information that could be useful."

"How?"

He shrugged. "Never know. But if we happen to be there, it wouldn't hurt to ask." She didn't reply and as such, he decided to just end it there. Perhaps not much hope, but maybe just the prospect of maybe learning something that might provide a little hope for…

Alright, hope for what? Somehow magically bringing his counterpart back from the dead? Although…wasn't that what Dialga essentially did? …Dialga? Of course! Dialga could certainly warp Leo from the past to the present! Warp him out as he was falling…

Well, why not?

"Maybe we might learn something of Dialga's fate," he couldn't help adding. Which earned him a new stare from Lonny…and Sally, Grovyle and even Blaze. "After all, we were predicted to exist from thousands of years ago, weren't we?"

Blaze said something with his cracked voice.

"Blaze says it would be hard to believe Dialga would lead us into a trap."

"Then maybe something went wrong." He refused to allow this faint ray of hope to get snuffed out! He needed it…they all needed it!

"Well, then we need to first find out where we are," Sally replied.

Leo looked at his suddenly beautiful wife, the moonlight now quite strong on her face from nearly dead-on.

Turning, she gave a faint smile…before looking past him for a moment before turning her around head, then straight up. She gasped. Almost fearfully: "There are _three_ moons!"

Huh? Swinging his own head around along with Blaze, Grovyle and Lonny, he looked up, where there was one moon looking very much like the Poké world's moon. But to the east…a smaller moon was rising, and toward the north…yet another small one!

"We're not on the Poké world!" Sally said hoarsely.

Leo felt his own fear as much as he heard it in his wife's voice.

* * *

"I want MOM!"

Leo sighed heavily as Chip was screaming at him. He couldn't blame his son for acting up; it'd been well over a week since he last saw his mother. And after five days since returning to Treasure Town, he still couldn't bring himself to explain one particular detail of what happened. "Chip, she and all the others are gone. I told you before, they were transported from that cave to somewhere in an instant. I'd slipped and was falling, so I wasn't."

With a quick glance to Akri, he was again relieved the self-described Guardian seemed content in not mentioning the one omission, which was the Pokémon they fought and may have…done something terrible after they all left. He still didn't want to think about the worse-case, but if it turned out Lonny was dead and he had tell the rest of the story, he at least had the excuse he didn't know their fates; the same uncertainty all his hope was pinned on.

"You said Akri saved you; why didn't it save them too?" With tears streaming and a glare at Akri, the mudkip ran up and out of their bluff-side dwelling.

Leo sighed again while finding himself facing a frowning Akri.

"He not happy," the Azelf-like Pokémon observed as it floated near the small water basin.

"Makes two of us." Eventually he found himself up on top also, but with no Chip in sight. Most likely gone into town to be with Kangaskhan and Kangason for a while, which was probably best. While he and everyone were on expedition, the mother-son pair had acted as babysitters and apparently wonderfully so. A few at the Guild also had offered to take care of him, if ever the need arose.

If only there had been a way that he didn't have to tell Chip anything…like if he had returned to Earth with Christina…

Since the plane landed almost in the middle of town in the middle of the night, it created one heck of a stir the next morning after everyone started waking up. With the plane's near silent mode of power, nobody had heard it and he hadn't been about to wake anyone either. At least he had been able to wait until the morning before delivering the sad news, which included to Chip.

Everyone took it hard, though all expressed hope they would sooner or later turn up. Some point later he finally told most of them in private the one missing detail, and all agreed to not tell Chip. It was likely one of them would eventually let it slip, but he'd deal with that when the time came. For now, he just wanted to spare his son the worst of his own fear.

Below the cliff of Sharpedo Bluff, the ocean was lapping at the base in gentle, rhythmic motions, a light breeze from the sea just keeping the heat of the sun from becoming unbearable. A fresh ocean scent…white puffy clouds…a very beautiful day…

…like so many other days he and Blaze, and later Grovyle, Sally, and his human self shared together. And Lonny, with who he had precious few days with…

If none of them ever returned…

…how was he going to raise Chip by himself? Literally, they had only just met a couple weeks ago and from what he could tell, his son now hated him for being the only survivor and not his mother!

His son had a point. Lonny had become human; it had been his job to protect her…and he failed. It had been his to protect his human self and Sally too…and he failed. And when it came to it, it was his supreme duty to help Grovyle, and especially his dearest friend and partner Blaze…and he failed!

Blaze…

…was gone.

The fact hit him as hard as at any time over the last several days and his own tears started welling up. Somehow, he managed to not let too many stream down his wide blue face. There was hope…it was just all riding on someone from Earth making contact. He had to get to Earth! Even then, it would be one hell of a long shot.

But one step at a time; how long before Ticonamo, George or Naomi would be allowed to open the portal again…if ever? One certain thing was they hadn't opened it while they were gone, otherwise the radio would've recorded the contact.

Hope was slipping the longer there wasn't…

"You crying?"

He turned slightly to Akri. Wiping his face, he instinctively tried to hide the fact, but knew it was useless. Taking a deep breath to regain his composure a little, "I'll always miss Blaze greatly; we're not usually apart this long. I just wish I could know if he and everyone else are OK."

Akri's face became thoughtful for a moment, but it shrugged in the end.

"Are you sure you don't know where they were transported to? It would really help the search."

"Don't know. Sorry. Thought I knew, can't remember now. Just feel they far away. Not time portal though, already said."

The expected reply forced a groan out of him.

"Chest looks better."

One of Akri's more irritating aspects was its tendency to just change subjects at the drop of a oran berry. He just couldn't work up any emotion about it this morning, though. Instead for some reason, he found himself making the decision to ask something he'd been wondering about, while his inhibition was low at the moment. "Akri, what gender are you? Male or female?"

The floating Pokémon at first simply stared back…before looking more and more bemused as its tails rose a little behind it. Finally it started giggling which quickly became outright laughter. "You…can't…tell?"

"Let's say you are unlike any Pokémon I've ever met before," Leo replied before he felt too embarrassed.

Stopping its laughter suddenly, it still was smiling as it put its tiny hands on its hips. "Well…we won't be sleeping together, I say that! I do that with a female, which you aren't!" With more chuckles, it turned to the side to seemingly focus on something behind them.

Leo turned, finding an wide-eyed Chatot a few paces away. "Chatot…" Back to Akri in a loud whisper: "That wasn't what I was asking!" Yet again, if it wasn't for his blue skin…though he still felt the warmth of embarrassment.

The multi-colored bird glanced several times between Akri and him in a manner of embarrassment as well. "I'm…uh…not interrupting anything, am I?" Chatot said, apparently suppressing a cough.

Leo gritted his teeth. "No, I was just asking what gender it was," paying the floating Pokémon a brief side-long glance. "Male, apparently."

"Oh! Well, to be honest, I was wondering that myself…uh, once or twice," Chatot admitted, giving a brief flap of his wings. "He he. Well, glad we got that settled and I can now refer to _him_ properly."

With that out of the way, "I was going to be leaving for the Guild in another moment. What brings you out here so early? You have good news?" It had to be important, that much he was sure of, but if Chatot's beak would have allowed it, his expression indicated it would have been a frown.

"I regret to say no, Leo. All guild members are still searching and asking around, but nobody has seen or heard anything as of yet. And I'm afraid…" The bird Pokémon swallowed hard as he paused, "Well, there's only so many places on this continent. Soon we will have every possible place checked out. Word from across the seas is…rather hard to come by. Having to rely on the pelippers, you know, and not many of them travel that far and when they do, it's rare…"

Leo nodded solemnly, knowing that. Riding the backs of laprases was the only real way for anyone else to get across the seas (until the flying craft had been discovered, that was!)

"They are far away," Akri said.

"Yes, as you said before," Chatot replied. "However, I have other news this morning. Chalesti returned last night; she's at the Guild. Poor thing was exhausted when she arrived, but she was worried about you and Blaze and… Anyway, it's probably best if you explained what happened."

The three of them arrived at the Guild a short while later, where Leo was relieved to see Chalesti eating breakfast in the Guild's dining hall. She certainly looked the worse for wear, with a few minor bruises and scrapes.

"She had a few battles on the way back here," Chatot filled in with a whisper.

"She was also with you?" Akri asked, seemingly confused.

With Chalesti noticing them, he answered while walking to the far end of the table. "She was left behind where we found the gold craft." Facing the clefable as he neared: "Or more accurately, the _plane _left _her_ behind."

Chalesti at once rose and embraced him. But looking around him questioningly: "Where's Blaze, Grovyle, and everyone else? I got the impression from everyone here that something's wrong, but Chatot just kept telling me to ask _you._"

After introducing Akri as the Guardian of the chamber that was the plane's destination, he had her sit back down before telling her the full story. It really didn't take long, but it was shocking enough to the clefable. Akri helped to the extent of making negative comments about the charizard-like creature that had been waiting for them, but otherwise gave no new insights.

"My gosh," Chalesti said after he'd finished, her wing-like appendages twitching. "I guess maybe it was a good thing I wasn't there, but I feel bad about not being around to help. All of this is…" She stared down with a frown, "...my fault."

"Stop right there," Chatot said from her other side. "No one knew what was waiting. Every indication was it was something good, right Leo?"

Leo nodded. Indeed, there had been no sign that anything bad was going to happen to them. Which of course made it the perfect trap. "I don't blame you for anything, Chalesti. We were exploring, and every exploration carries a certain amount of risk. Everyone understood that." Didn't mean he wasn't still blaming himself, though he didn't know what he could of done differently. Little comfort, however.

"And you don't know where they went?"

"Nobody knows!" Akri provided. "Except who traveled, of course." He snickered, but not mockingly.

Chalesti's expression become angry, "But they traveled with a Pokémon that was trying to _kill_ them! That's not funny!"

Akri stopped snickering and frowned, his tails drooping. In a small voice: "Sorry."

"Indeed _not_," Chatot supported. "I just hope…we _all_ hope, they are alright, wherever they went."

"They have to be," Leo said. "Somehow, they'll _find_ a way to survive." The thought of everyone dead...was still more than he could cope with, either now or for a long time to come.

"Yet…" Chatot continued, using a wingtip to bring it up to his beak as he sometimes did when deep in thought. "I've been thinking about this for a while, and something doesn't make sense. Why go through all the trouble of making that…_airplane_ the humans call it? ...to bring you to some far-off isolated island in order to, well, to knock you all off?"

"I see what you're saying," Chalesti said. "That piece of technology is amazing and advanced. I've never seen anything like it. But why not just set the trap right there instead making such a thing to take you elsewhere for that?"

It was a point he'd gone over more than once himself, but really hadn't seemed too important as of late. After all, what difference did it make as to the how or why? He already knew what he needed to do. But just in case… "You still have that map? I think Akri should have a look."

"Huh? Oh, yes!" The pink clefable reached beside her where she apparently had her satchel and soon had the ancient map unrolled on the rough-hewn tabletop, partly polished by many years of use.

Akri immediately was floating above it, looking down with apparent study. After a moment with Chalesti pointing to the six figures on the one side, "You right, Leo! It look like all you!"

"So…does this mean anything to you?" Leo asked, both Chatot and Chalesti hovering over the map seemingly in anticipation.

Akri looked around at all three of them as if he was suddenly feeling some pressure. His tails twisting around themselves, "No. Never see this before. But…maybe… that place was meant for you. Just like the symbol responded to you."

Chalesti and Chatot exchanged glances, the later speaking: "That sounds creepy, in retrospect."

Great. The only insight Akri provided just reinforced the fact that the trap was set for them specifically. Still, he wouldn't mind having Wigglytuff have another look at the map. Maybe with both him and Chalesti (and Chatot) together, they just might think of something that would make a trip to Earth unnecessary. "Where's Wigglytuff this morning?"

Chatot looked down for just a moment. "Well…he actually left early a couple days ago with Sunflora on…that special errand you mentioned. I was left in charge while he's gone."

Now that he thought about it, he hadn't seen the Guildmaster yesterday either. Which just went to show how upset he'd been and from dealing with Chip. Still, he didn't mean to suggest the Guildmaster himself should go; he really just mentioned it in passing, meaning to do it himself when he felt up to it and got tired of waiting for contact from Earth.

A few loud voices from outside the dining hall got their attention. It didn't seem to be angry, but Chatot was already moving for the doorway mumbling a "what's going on out there," when Loudred stuck his bluish, large eared head in.

"Oh, there you guys are!" in his usual booming voice. "We have a visitor looking for you Leo!"

"Visitor?" Chatot asked, stopping in his tracks a second later as a familiar light-green Pokémon came floating in.

"Celebi!" Leo greeted, feeling genuinely glad to see the small time-travel Pokémon.

"Leo!" Wasting no time, she flew over to him to give a quick hug around his comparatively large head.

He almost sneezed from the sudden air her wings was stirring up, but held. Although he guessed the answer: "What brings you here?"

After giving a glance to Akri: "I heard the news about what happened to all of you and my Grovyle, so I came here as soon as I could." Forming a more serious expression on her otherwise gentle face: "Tell me _exactly_ what happened, then tell me what I can do to help."

"You cute," Akri blurted.

Celebi gave him another, longer look, forming a half-smile. "Uh…thanks. Who are you? I don't recognize your species. Oh, I forgot my manners!" To both Akri and Chalesti: "I'm Celebi."

"I'll have Chimecho prepare some more berries," Chatot said as he started hopping toward the door again. "I think you're all going to be here a while."

Chatot was almost certainly right on that. After formally introducing Chalesti as an explorer from across the sea and Akri as a friend (saving who he was for later), "Everything started about two weeks ago when we got word from Earth that Ticonamo, Christina and Lonny were coming for a visit…"

* * *

The last five days had not been easy…or had it been six? While trying to knock down some jungle vegetation that Grovyle eventually cut with his leaf blades, Leo Hanson decided it'd been five since they arrived on this unknown world.

Basically put, the climb down from the mountains had been exhausting, but they made it to the forest at the base of the range and now had traveled far enough that the forest was more jungle than anything, with the appropriate increase in temperature and humidity.

While he hoped they'd escaped that charizard-like Pokémon who'd been trying to kill them (assuming it also made it to this unknown world), they had other more immediate worries. Two things they were looking were food and water, since little of either had been in the mountains themselves. Well, there was the one stream which allowed them to refill their canteens, but it had been too cold to bathe from. Now both were critical again; their canteens were near empty and they'd exhausted all the food they had as of last night. Only thing left were some berries they managed to find, which neither Grovyle nor Blaze could identify except to say they had the kick of oran berries but not the flavor. Nor the looks or the size.

"Too bad these don't give that energy kick to humans," Sally said in grabbing the last few from the small pouch dangling from her belt loop. She was looking obviously tired and in need of such a kick.

No doubt he looked the same, Leo thought. He certainly _felt_ the five days of hard hiking!

"What I wouldn't give to feel that again," Lonny added, making three of them who looked and sounded exhausted.

Blaze and Grovyle by contrast seemed to look back as if wondering what was wrong. Of course they were benefiting from said 'kick'! At least the two of them looked concerned.

In addition to desiring some energy himself: "What _I_ wouldn't give for a bath," in an effort to change the subject from food (and lack thereof).

"I'll take _that_ too," Lonny replied with a long sigh before taking a drink from her canteen which sounded like it was one drink away from empty. Then she ran a hand over her sweaty head and the short blonde hair growing there, now around a inch long and contrasting neatly with her light-blue skin, light-green checks and diminutive purplish head fins.

She wasn't scratching her scalp anymore, Leo noticed after a moment. Then after looking up at the sun through the lush overhead foliage: "I think it's probably time for a break."

"Agreed!" Sally replied, instantly unstrapping her pack to let it fall to the moist ground, Lonny taking her cue from that to do the same.

Leo observed the two females standing together while taking off his own pack. Between them, Lonny looked slightly less tired, probably stemming from the fact she used to be a very strong swampert…and that she was just more muscular period. Minus the skin color and other swampert remnants, she'd be otherwise be considered quite 'hot'. Of course, some would consider her that despite the remnants… Wearing only her one sweat-soaked green tee-shirt only added to that impression, too.

If only his counterpart were still alive to appreciate her…

Sitting with his wife on a nearby fallen log, he enjoyed that blissful moment when one's overworked muscles finally got to stop and rest. He tried to not think too much about their loss as Sally leaned against him, even though both of them were sweaty and smelly after not having had a bath for many days. He sure hoped Grovyle didn't mind, which he seemed not to in spreading himself out on the log face down next to them and seemingly falling asleep instantly, paying no mind to Blaze seemingly just wondering off a little toward a dense cluster of vines.

It was quiet, save for some distant calls of birds (Pokémon?) and various insects, some of which sounded familiar like crickets and some not.

Pokémon. If this were Earth or the Poké world, they would have seen a lot of them by now. On this world… Well, they seemed to exist, as they caught glimpses of what looked to be animals similar to nidorans and other forest types, but not many. The few they spotted scurried away as fast as they could; fleeting glimpses.

Definitely different from the other two worlds, where wild Pokémon are about equally likely to attack as to run away.

Sally moved her head on his shoulder as if settling in, letting out a long content-sounding sigh. "Don't move. I'm going to take a nap."

"Goodnight," he replied, feeling his own eyelids getting really heavy as fatigue started taking full hold. Unfortunately they wouldn't be able to rest for very long. If nothing else, they absolutely had to find water by the end of the day. If they didn't, they would be out by evening, given how the warm, humid air was draining it out of them, and the next day would become life-threatening. Food they could go without for a few days if that's what it came too.

For the moment though, he let his eyes close after just noticing the clouds coming in front of the sun, making it immediately cooler despite the shading already provided by all the trees. Good; they'll sweat out less water. With any luck, the clouds would became rain and they could capture some. Well, they were in a jungle, and jungles usually meant high rainfall!

Perhaps they might get lucky…

"Infern, he he rana gron ree."

Opening his eyes on the infernape standing in front of him, he found Blaze pointing with a purple finger and seemingly his tail to someplace ahead. "What is it Blaze?" asking wearily.

"Blaze, let Leo rest," Lonny said from behind them, apparently leaning back against the log further down while sitting on the ground. "We _humans_ don't get that boost from berries like you and Grovyle do."

Blaze seemed to retort something with a twitch of his red tail and a minor lowering of his brow, but not angrily as he continued in Poké speech for a bit.

Lonny sighed, "He wants you to see something." Then when Blaze said a couple more words: "Something unusual."

Which he was starting to guess from the infernape using his hands to shape something square.

Nodding, Blaze quickly grabbed his hand in attempting to pull him up.

Beginning to get curious, Leo relented and finishing heaving himself back up to let the infernape pull him along. Knowing Blaze, it shouldn't be something _too_ trivial; the Pokémon had more brains than to bother him unnecessarily given his current fatigued state.

"Let me know what it is," Sally said with a yawn, fully laying herself down on the log to be nearly head-to-head with Grovyle, who also said something in Poké speech but made no move to get himself up either.

Though his green friend had been munching on the same energy-giving berries along with the rest of them, conservation of energy was still smart. Something Blaze should be really be doing, considering they were now out of those berries. Perhaps he found more?

Not unless those berries were square…

…which _would_ qualify as something unusual…

At least the infernape was doing better emotionally from when they first lost the swampert. Since then, he seemed intent on involving him in everything, like every minor discovery he made or making sure he had input on every decision large or small whether it really mattered or not. Each day was only reinforcing the fact that he was the substitute for his counterpart. It was a new bond and he didn't want to rip that away from the infernape; if anything, he discovered he needed this bond too as a way of knowing his counterpart still lived on in Blaze. The two Pokémon had been very close, and now it seemed that same type of relationship was growing between them.

Of course that was a lot to infer from only five days.

Not far away from the others, Blaze stopped at what at first seemed like a old moss-covered rock just sticking out of the ground. But standing over it, it was square…and didn't seem like an ordinary rock, considering what was sticking out of it.

Kneeling down, he put his hand on the short stick that seemed embedded in it…only to find it solid and hard. "This _is_ unusual," Leo commented. On a hunch, he took out his small pocket knife and scraped the dull-side edge against it, causing dirt and perhaps something resembling corrosion to flake off…and leaving a shiny, metallic surface. "Metal? A metal bar?" Blaze voiced something as he took a closer look at the base. Scraping that with the knife likewise removed the moss, uncovering what appeared as concrete, though badly deteriorated.

Facing behind him: "Sally, Lonny, Grovyle, come and have a look at this!"

A moment later the others were standing around, Sally kneeling next to him. "Then…there's civilization here!"

"Or was," Leo added, noting both Blaze and Grovyle were looking around the jungle litter on the ground around them. With Grovyle's shout, he knew the Pokémon found something else. After only a few more minutes of searching, they had managed to find other remnants ranging from crumbling concrete mostly buried in the earth to other metal fragments including a twisted piece of I-beam.

"I think this is something like stainless steel," Sally remarked at the metal. "It certainly hasn't rusted and there's no real corrosion, just plastered with dirt and stuff. Which means…whoever made this was fairly advanced."

Just _how_ advanced? Trying to lift it, he concluded the weight certainly precluded it from being any lighter corrosion-resistant metal, like titanium. "Only reason to use such a metal as a structural component is for the corrosion resistance," he added after letting go of the one end to let it fall back to the ground with a heavy dull thud.

"So they built it to last," Sally continued while Lonny had a go with the beam, quickly giving up after she strained just as much to lift it. "But if the concrete is any indication, this is really old."

"Like five thousand years?" Leo asked.

Sally stared back a few seconds as did Blaze. "Could be older. Hard to say, but…" shaking her head, "sure would fit in with everything else, huh?"

"So whoever made this might have been responsible for making the map, and setting that trap?" Lonny asked before Grovyle got their attentions.

Although the jungle didn't afford long views, they did at least have sight through it to perhaps 30 meters at their particular location. And currently, the direction Grovyle was facing was becoming…

"Fog?" Sally asked. "But it's the middle of the day…"

Looking up, Leo furrowed his brow. The clouds from a few minutes ago had since become a nearly full overcast. Very quick change of the weather…but they _were_ on a different planet! But different enough to explain the quickly gathering fog? The normal jungle sounds were also growing quiet, he realized. He was about to remark about that o the others, but a sudden distant scream drifted through the trees, followed quickly by other shouts of the Pokémon variety.

"That scream…" Lonny said as the distant ruckus continued. "It sounded like an infernape."

Both Grovyle and Blaze perked up at the continuing ruckus, with Blaze looking more and more alarmed both finally saying something.

"What?" Sally asked, looking uneasy as the fog seemed to thicken in front of their eyes.

"There's…" Lonny paused for a moment as there was another scream and she strained to hear. "A fight. It sounds like a bunch of Pokémon are…trying to hurt someone?" More shouting and her eyes grew wider along with Blaze's and Grovyle's. "They're trying to _kill_ someone!"

A much louder, though still distant scream erupted through the trees and fog, one clearly in pain and desperation despite the language difference, and his heart started beating faster in its own alarm.

Jumping up, Blaze took several steps toward the fog bank alongside Grovyle.

"That was a cry for help!" Lonny shouted, joining the two Pokémon. "We have to help!"

Leo really didn't like the idea of rushing headlong into an unknown situation, especially in this circumstance, and something was giving him a very uneasy feeling. Yet Sally's look said it all: if someone was in serious trouble, they needed to at least try and help. And as they rushed through the fog, he hoped this wouldn't cause them to make enemies on this world. His worry faded as the screams continued, though. Whatever Pokémon it was…was in pain.

He just hoped they were going to be able to see as they tried navigating their way through the fog, the visibility dropping to near zero...


	11. Chapter 11: Things That Must Be Done

**Chapter XI: Things That Must Be Done**

The morning after Chalesti returned to Treasure Town, Leo lead Akri back to the flying machine where it sat at the edge of Treasure Town. On arriving, there was the now usual compliment of explorer teams gathering around, admiring the gleaming golden craft in the morning sun's light, apparently freshly cleaned by last night's light rain shower that also left a energizing fresh scent in the warming air. But there was one other Pokémon, hard at work writing things down in her journal.

"Good morning; were you here all night?" Leo asked Chalesti and Celebi, who was hovering over her. As the pink clefable turned around, he noticed the circles around her small eyes, but also the excitement.

She nodded by tilting her body forward slightly. "Ever since you left in it, I've been dying to have a closer look inside. Sleep can wait!" As if emphasizing, her wing-like appendages twitched.

"I'm looking for clues my...self," Celebi added with a yawn as she covered her mouth. "But my senses don't detect anything unusual, so there isn't anything time-related about this thing except…it feels old." Finishing with a frown and spread arms: "Of course we already know that."

The clefable definitely had been excited when he lead her to it from the Guild the other day. For himself, he didn't care so much for it, since it was the instrument that lead them into the trap. Still, it could prove useful for transporting Pokémon to other lands across the sea, helping to broaden their search for Blaze, Sally, Lonny, Grovyle and his counterpart. But as Chatot had said yesterday, the Poké world was a very big place; where would they even start?

"Have you discovered anything?" asking Chalesti while Akri started interacting with one of the teams nearby. Just so he stayed out of trouble…

Chalesti sighed, mirroring Celebi's frown. "Not yet. But Akri's translating will help at some point. If I could figure out more about the language on those controls, I'm sure we'll know a lot more. But I'm more sure of one thing: this technology is very advanced. I've taken a look behind some of the panels and…honestly, I've not seen the likes of it before!"

"Wait, you aren't taking it apart are you? I'll need this to get back to that island!"

Raising a hand and shaking it: "No no no! Don't worry," she giggled. "I only removed some panels. I've touched nothing behind them!"

"That's true!" Celebi confirmed. "I've made sure of it! One should not touch things they don't understand."

"But how can you understand something if you can't touch it eventually?" Chalesti countered, looking up at the light green time-traveling Pokémon.

"More ways to learn than by touching!" Celebi replied with closed eyes as she swooped up slightly, as if preaching.

"Sure, but few are better," Chalesti argued.

Leo breathed a mental sigh of relief, but leaned inside the craft for a look just in case. As the clefable had said, only a couple of small panels were on the floor, exposing largely empty space under the forward control panel, though it looked like there was some electronics in there…

A greeting from Akri got his attention and he pulled his head out to see Chatot on the trail to the bluff a short distance away, looking back.

"Oh, you're already here this morning," the Guild's second-in-charge said as he hopped over. "Wigglytuff returned just a short while ago. Please come to the Guild, especially _you_, Akri."

"He he, _me_?" the floating bluish Pokémon asked with slight surprise, but followed quickly along with Celebi and Chalesti.

Wigglytuff greeted them with his large pink self in his office with his usual "Hiya!" Leo knew who also would be waiting for him and Akri, but Akri didn't. Still, the Azelf-like Pokémon didn't look surprised at all, but rather more curious as he stared at the three lake guardians in return as they floated near the Guildmaster. And in finally being able to see both Akri and Azelf together at the same time, Leo thought his initial observation on the similarities between them reinforced, but also highlighted the more minor differences as well, such as the different tail bulbs.

Chalesti's look in contrast to everyone else was questioning as Celebi just smiled, getting a nod from Mespirt in return.

"I found them at the beach north of brine cave after a day of asking around," Wigglytuff said. "That was after traveling to Crystal Lake!"

"We decided to take a vacation," Azelf replied. "There's real no reason for us to hang around our lakes all the time anymore, so why not?"

"I would of," Wigglytuff added with his usual carefree flair. "Maybe I should soon. A long, long vacation!"

"Hello, Leo," Uxie greeted as she moved forward a little. "Have you been…well?" Her smile faded to worry as she seemed to cringe with her tails. "Wigglytuff told us what's been happening."

From their stares, he knew they were all looking at his bruised chest. "I've been better," figuring there was no way he could say he was alright and have it sound even close to the truth. He was battered, both physically and mentally.

"Who are _you?_" Akri finally asked while tilting his head slightly and moving slightly forward and to the side of Uxie. His movement seemed to abruptly halt a couple meters in front of Azelf.

"Introductions, first!" Wigglytuff announced. "For those of you who don't know," focusing on Chalesti in particular, "this Azelf, Mespirt, and Uxie."

Chalesti's eyes widened. "The three Pokémon spoken of in legend?"

Wigglytuff gave a blank stare in return. "Probably."

"Oh…amazing! Very pleased to meet you!"

The three guardians gave responding nods, Uxie giggling slightly.

"And Azelf, Mesprit, Uxie, that is Chalesti, who is visiting from across the sea, and Akri," the Guildmaster continued, nodding to each in turn. "He's the guardian of…uh…"

There was no name for the island but from previous introductions, Leo knew what to say. "He's the guardian of a special island in the middle of the ocean and it's cave of teleportation."

The eyes of the other three guardians grew wider as they at first gave Akri a much harder look before looking between themselves.

Leo decided to go straight to the point: "We were hoping you might know something of that place and of Akri since…well, he kind of resembles the three of you, especially you Azelf…you know, in body type and such and since you're guardians also." As the seconds passed and the lake trio said nothing while only staring back, he started worrying perhaps he offended them in some way. Especially Uxie, who he knew liked him as perhaps more than just a distant friend. He really should tell her sometime that he had a mate now…

…assuming Lonny was still among the living.

Finally Mespirt spoke: "Sorry, we were having a telepathic conference. I regret to say, we have not heard of such a place before, nor of you, Akri. This is completely unknown to us."

"That's…too bad," Leo replied, unable to hide his disappointment in tone. He really had some hope they might know something of the fourth guardian. "Well, could you have a look at something outside then?" Hopefully the symbols might mean something to them.

To be sure, they were impressed with the craft (and their reflections in said golden skin), but unfortunately none of the symbols meant anything to them, including the all-important sun-like one. Yet Azelf seemed to have a distant look for several moments, causing both Uxie and Mespirt to turn to him.

"Are you sure?" Uxie asked.

"No, I'm not, but…well, it's not much in any case."

"What is it?" Chatot asked, fluttering his wings. "Anything would be of help!"

Still looking somewhat in thought, Azelf faced everyone while lowering himself a little. "We don't remember much from that long ago, it was, after all, a long time ago! But we do remember something of the time when humans were here and working with Dialga to build various projects. Of course, none of us knew much about Temporal Tower as he mostly kept that a closely guarded secret, but we saw evidence of the other things he had built.

"On seeing this craft, I just remembered something Dialga mentioned in passing as he was distributing the time gears for hiding and safekeeping. I think he said something about wanting to put one of the other time gears somewhere, but had to look for a new location after one he choose had been…wrong…bad? I think." Putting a small hand to his head, "Or what was it? He said…no, there was something else was being built there…or something going on." The Pokémon of willpower paused for a moment before shaking his head. "I'm sorry, I can't remember much about it, or even if I ever knew more. Being eons old can play havoc with memory, you know!"

"If I was that old, I'm sure I would have the same problem!" Chatot exclaimed.

"_You suggesting I'm too old?_" Azelf said sternly in whipping around to the bird.

Chatot's eyes became as wide as they could be as he backed up a step, flapping his wings in a fluster. "No, of course not! I..uh…was just saying…"

The smile spreading on Azelf's face said it all. "I was just giving you grief, Chatot!"

"So they have humor, too," Chalesti whispered as Chatot seemed to calm down with a sigh of relief.

So they did. Before, he really only knew Uxie well enough to know she could be quite funny. Too bad since returning from Earth, he hadn't found the time to go visit her with Blaze and Grovyle… Certainly, he probably would have made the effort to have his human self and Sally go to, despite his own rule about them traveling outside the area of Treasure Town.

Lost opportunity now.

On the present matter: "I wonder if Dialga was referring to the cave and chamber we found the this craft in? Or even Akri's island."

"_My_ island?" Akri asked, high-pitched as if stifling a laugh, his face now beaming. "Never think it that way."

Azelf shrugged. "I really have no idea, but that might be a possibility."

"So what is this 'cave of teleportation' that you are guarding?" Uxie asked, floating closer to Akri. "Tell us more, especially about that mural Wigglytuff mentioned to us."

With Akri, Leo explained the mural to the lake trio and it's strange inscription, watching for any sign they knew something about it.

"Those with the power may pass…and that charizard Pokémon had it, huh?" Mespirt said thoughtfully. "Very odd."

"I didn't get a real good look at that Pokémon," Leo reiterated, noticing Electivire running down the path toward them, waving his arms wildly. "It really was dark, and it was mostly in shadow, but it certainly resembled a…"

"Leo!" the black-striped yellow Pokémon started yelling while still a moment away, earning everyone's full attention. When he got a little closer: "Leo! That portal…it's opening!"

"Contact from Earth!" Leo said excitedly to everyone before starting running with all he had.

Meeting Electivire half-way on the path: "It's small, but I noticed it forming in the middle of town," Electivire filled in as they ran back together.

"Leo!" Up ahead, Kangason was bounding toward them, acting a lot like Electivire in waving his arms. "That talking box, it's talking!"

Thanking Kangason for keeping watch over it while caring for the garden, Leo ran as fast as he could to his human self's house, mentally giving a sigh of relief for having Kangason keep vigil on it. Of course, the better option would have been to keep it with him at all times, but he wasn't certain how long the battery would last, and didn't want to risk moving to the bluff the solar electric system that kept it charged. His fragmented memory of human technology likely would have resulted in some kind of mistake…

Noting Akri, Chalesti and Celebi having all followed, he stormed into the house and to the corner table where the radio was, Ticonamo's voice coming through.

"Hey, where are you guys? Is it still night there?"

Hitting the transmit button on the side of the portable unit: "Ticonamo, this is Leo!"

"Hey, Leo! How are you doing there? Just making contact to find out if everything's OK. Is the other Leo around…"

"Ticonamo, open the portal all way. I'm coming there immediately!"

After a pause: "What? Ah…why? I really haven't been authorized to…"

"Something bad has happened, and I need to come there right away! Hurry and open it! I'm leaving for the town right now!"

"But… Wait…everyone? What's going on?"

"No, just me. I'll explain when I get there. Now open it, please! Leo out."

And with that, he took off again back out of the house. Fortunately there was little he needed to bring. He'd thought briefly about the map and bringing it…but it was probably too valuable and would serve as an incentive to return. Besides, it was Chalesti's map…

"You going to Earth?" the clefable asked, running behind him again. "That's the _human_ planet, right?"

"Yes," Leo answered tersely, intent on getting back into town as fast as possible. They likely weren't going to keep the portal open for very long…

"Take me with you!"

"I go too," Akri added. "I go where you go."

So the guardian had said a few times before…

He'd debated already over the past few days if Akri (or anyone else) should go with him when/if the opportunity to travel back to Earth presented itself. Although having Akri could be useful, he decided it might be too dangerous for him, considering he didn't seem quite "all there". Not to mention naive, like a Pokémon that had only hatched a couple weeks before. Chalesti…it hadn't occurred to him she might want to go. As obviously having a great interest in all things human, of course she might jump at the chance.

Hurrying through town and around other Pokémon, he had very little time to consider it though. No doubt she might have the same "hard time" adjusting that he and Blaze had when they first arrived, although she would have the benefit of having him around…

…or maybe not, considering the task he had ahead.

On reaching the portal: "No, neither of you can come. It'll be too dangerous."

Chalesti looked instantly disappointed. "But…a world of humans! I _have_ to come," she pleaded, hugging her satchel. "How dangerous can it be?"

"Well…" following her gaze, he found Akri hovering at the horizon of the grayish portal, his tails moving a little apparently from the slight cool breeze going into it.

"Hey, don't go near that!" Electivire shouted from the side. "You'll get sucked in!"

"We can't have you accidentally going to Earth, now!" Chatot added with a squawk as he landed nearby.

Akri backed away as Leo approached him and the portal to put himself between them. "I'm sorry, but it's best if I go alone."

The clefable really frowned and seemed about to say something, but stopped.

Feeling something on his rear fin, he turned to find one of Akri's tails brushing over it…on his way into the portal!

"Too bad, I go with!" he said and as quick as that, he plunged in!

Leo's heart leapt. There was of course no way to stop him anymore! But before he could recover from the moment's shock, Chalesti quickly ran past him.

"As easy as stepping in? I have to see this planet of hummmaaaaaans!" she said with a high-pitched near-scream in following Akri!

Now he felt not just stunned, but angry too. And…he had to move!

Wishing there was more time for a goodbye, he glanced to Electivire, Chatot, Celebi and the other Pokémon gathering: "I'll try to get back as soon as I can," and put one foot inside the grayish hole whose bottom was very far away. "Please guard that golden craft. We're going to need it."

Celebi nodded. "I'll guard it with my life," the lake trio adding their acknowledgment as well.

"And please take care of Chip."

"I'll see to it," Electivire replied. "I'm sure Kangaskhan will too."

"Good luck, Leo," Chatot bid with a raised black wing. "We're all hoping you succeed!"

To the similar wishes of a safe journey and return from everyone else present, he finished moving into the portal.

While tumbling around, it was almost surreal that he was at least on his way back to Earth. It had been doubtful he would even get the chance, yet this was still the easy part of what he needed to do. To find the only one he knew of who might be able to open the portal on Akri's island and convince him to help…that was going to be the hard part. By far.

* * *

After several steps through the fog that afforded little visibility, Leo Hanson barely avoided the tree that "sprung" out only a few feet in front of him. That wasn't the worst thing though. Whether it was disorientation from the thick, cold, almost suffocating fog that seemed to dull all senses or something else, he felt as if he was suddenly falling and within a heartbeat of passing out.

Falling forward and grabbing the tree for support, he felt Sally likewise grab him while mostly collapsing onto him. Then...the severe vertigo passed.

His wife's face was as questioning as he felt, but the continuing commotion from ahead drew them onward. Trudging forward through the fog and mostly successful avoiding the dense bushes and other tripping hazards, it became apparent the fog was more of a bank and not very wide. Glancing back: "It's like a wall…"

"That can't be normal," Sally said. "Although for this world…"

"Let's go!" Lonny called from ahead and well in the clear from the fog, Blaze and Grovyle beside her.

The sounds of what continued to be like Pokémon fighting grew in volume as they again raced through the trees and undergrowth. Then…the fighting seemed to stop with only a few muted Pokémon shouts from just ahead.

"They're saying to finish someone off!" Lonny whispered back loudly. She and the Pokémon quickened their pace and for a moment, they all ran flat out toward a brightness ahead.

Leo's heart was pounding from both exertion and from hoping they weren't rushing into something they couldn't handle, but he heard the desperate screams as clearly as the others. They would haunt him if he didn't at least to see what the situation was and maybe try to help if he could!

Grabbing Sally's hand, he helped her keep pace through the tangles until they broke out into an area with little undergrowth boarding a river. Water! But the reason that drew them there was a little further down the bank: over a dozen Pokémon were gathered near the river's edge, most identifiable as nidorans, nidorinos, nidorinas, mightyenas, a beedrill, snakes and birds of various species, though their colors varied from what was normal. The smells of so many wild Pokémon gathered together wasn't far off, though. But in a near circle, they surrounded one other Pokémon laying face-up half-way in the water...and quite identifiable, though looking very battered. Several glowing hands, claws and wings were posed over it.

"An infernape!" Lonny almost yelled in obvious surprise, just as the surrounding Pokémon turned to them. As if surprised themselves, a few stepped back and lost their glows, but the remainder just turned back to the fallen infernape who wasn't moving.

The fire-type seemed really looked to be hurt quite badly…

Blaze's mane came to life as it puffed and he screamed something as some of the gang raised their glowing appendages. A half-dozen of the group started moving forward, as if shielding those who seemed posed to do a finishing off of the fallen infernape.

One of the Pokémon struck the fallen infernape with several others quickly joining in…

Grovyle growled as Lonny hissed and Blaze looked about to unleash something…

Beside him, Leo heard Sally's horrified gasp while inside, felt caution and shock morph into anger…_seething anger!_ Certainly Pokémon sometimes killed each other out in the wilds of Earth, and it happened on the Poké world as well in its wilds. But this appeared very far removed from simply killing to eat or just a territorial dispute! This had all the feeling of brutal murder!

Although they were outnumbered, there was no way he could witness this without doing something! Pointing ahead and at the top of his lungs, "Grovyle, leaf blade! Blaze, flamethrower! Hit as many as you can and drive them back!"

As the two Pokémon seemed to need no further encouragement in rushing forward to attack, Lonny yelled and charged with them, spear leading the way. The initial attack by the three had immediate success as they managed to strike home on three Pokémon with Lonny using her protect to ram hard, others moved and within seconds, it was apparent they weren't going to get to the fallen infernape for at least a few moments…

…and the infernape wasn't going to last that long as several other Pokémon continued the beating.

He couldn't keep himself back and seeing the opening, went running straight for one of the birds with glowing wings hovering over the poor infernape, anger and adrenaline driving his legs. It wasn't a great distance, but a nidoran and nidorino pair moved from the infernape several meters to intercept him as the bird started taking off and toward him as well with wicked-looking narrowed black eyes. Jumping over the nidoran, he managed to lay a fist against the large bird's underside before tripping over the nidorino, falling just before the bird's claws ripped through the air above him.

The nidoran and nidorino came at him on the ground and with rage-fueled strength, he kicked and hit at the smaller creatures, going until his fists began to hurt. His boots seemed to do worse damage to the nidoran in forcing it to back away, but the other… Rolling quickly away from the river, he managed to grab the short but thick stick and swung the improvised club down hard on the thick head of the nidorino that was tearing through his pants leg and into his flesh.

Part of his mind abhorred the kind of punishment he was dealing out to these Pokémon, the broad class of creatures most humans came to know as good friends and companions on Earth. On the other hand, they were on a different planet and considering what they were doing, he felt more than justified in nailing the nidorino once more across the side of its muzzle. Besides, Pokémon were tough creatures and even drawing blood likely wouldn't do real injury…assuming he stopped himself!

But the nidorino seemed intent on continuing the attack; another hard impact to its side finally drove it back where it paused, a trickle of blood seeping down its grayish face from one large ear.

Finally getting a glimpse of what the others were doing, he saw Blaze really giving it to a snake and a some other unidentifiable Pokémon with not just his flamethrower, but fists and feet as well. Grovyle and Lonny seemed to be working together in slicing and stabbing a wall of five Pokémon, several bleeding themselves.

Toward the rear, he looked just in time to see Sally pick up a large rock and bash it into the glowing horn of another charging nidorino, knocking it to the side while letting out a primal scream.

He wanted to help his mate, but a few meters in the other direction a Pokémon resembling a sneasel was standing over the fallen infernape, holding a large rock of its own. Over the infer nape's head, it was just raising the rock over its own…

And Blaze, Grovyle and Lonny were all too busy to help…

Turning on the ground, Leo gave the newly charging indorsing a kick with his boot sole before jolting to his feet. Struggling to drive his legs, he fought to close the short distance to the sneasel as it was just starting driving the rock downward…

With a scream letting loose of its own accord, he thrust his hand out to barely push the rock away from its intended target before locking his knees to swing around. With as much strength as he could put into his arms, he drove the club hard into the sneasel's side before letting loose against the other two Pokémon still surrounding the infernape. Swing after primal swing he leveled at them, driving them away with pure strength and ferocity bordering on insanity. Even when one managed to break the club with a glowing claw swipe, he sent a heavy kick into its stomach. Staggering backward, the Pokémon quickly turned and fled, with the sneasel shouting something after it. Whipping around, he growled and faced the dark type in preparing to swing both halves of the club against it.

Backing up a step as it held one arm, the Pokémon hissed before it too turned and started running away. At that, the remaining Pokémon were soon in full retreat, some limping, and in only a short moment, every single one had disappeared into the surrounding jungle, most across the apparently shallow, but wide river.

It was moment yet before realizing the battle was over, and that he was shaking and his heart was pounding in the extreme. In fact, he couldn't believe what he had just done, a human taking on numerous Pokémon, and winning! Collapsing to his knees, he fought for breath, thinking for a second he was going to pass out, which fortunately passed quickly. Like everyone else including Sally, he had a few scrapes, but all their eyes quickly went to the badly beaten infernape still lying face-up half way in the creek. One of its eyes under its heavy brow ridge seemed to be open a crack…though it soon closed. As for the rest of it…

Only then, now that he had the chance to really look, did he realize this Pokémon also differed somewhat in appearance for a normal infernape…it was female.

Blaze said something urgently in moving with Grovyle and Lonny to her.

"We gotta get her out of the water!" Lonny said and started helping the other two Pokémon lift the limp infernape out of the river as water poured off her chest, legs, tail and long mane as she was dragged along the ground.

"Leo, I think we should get away from here as far as possible."

Facing his panting wife, he nodded in breathless agreement. Who knew if that Pokémon gang had reinforcements or not? So they fought them off, but if more were on the way to exact revenge… "Let's get back to…where we left our packs. We can rest there for a few moments." Fortunately it was in the opposite direction most the gang had retreated.

Blaze, Grovyle and Lonny all nodded as they seemed to struggle with their coordination in carrying the infernape for any distance. Finally, Lonny hefted the wet Pokémon over her shoulder…but almost immediately struggled greatly. She was obviously too tired…

As strong as the former swampert was, Leo figured he was still probably more so. The advantage of being male…especially after spending six months on the Poké world doing labor that built muscles! "Here." Taking the infernape from Lonny and putting her over his own shoulder, that fact that infernapes weren't the lightest of Pokémon was instantly driven home! But although he was also tired, his legs wobbly and his heart was still pounding, he was determined to manage.

"Wait a minute," Sally suddenly said, as if realizing something.

Setting the infernape down, he waited as Sally smartly told everyone to fill up their canteens while they had the chance. Good thing she still had her wits about her, Leo thought. In another moment, he hefted the Pokémon again and they were all once again moving through the trees and undergrowth, back toward their previous location. Which meant going through the strange fog bank that was still there one more time.

Even stranger, he felt himself nearly pass out yet again before he fought through, and with Lonny, Blaze and Grovyle sticking closer to him than last time, noticed they appeared to suffer the same in bowing their heads and almost going to their knees.

Once they were out: "What's with that fo… fog?" Lonny asked as she looked back.

Leo glanced back on hearing her last syllable. It wasn't instantaneous, but the bank was now dissipating…rapidly! The light around them was noticeably increasing too and a look upward confirmed the sky was clearing over the jungle canopy…also quickly! "Is this normal for this planet?"

Sally shook her head, but she was soon leading them for their packs again. "Time to pounder that later."

Again, she was right; the more immediate concern was the injured infernape and as his mate helped to get her off his shoulder, Blaze and Grovyle hurriedly cleared the ground of leaves and other plant debris in a wide spot near next to their packs.

While he mentally debated what exactly to do, Sally started examining the fire-type, including feeling around her bones where there were wounds, which were quite numerous. Unfortunately they didn't have any oran or sitrus berries anymore (or any other food, for that matter). At least they had water now and if this infernape survived, perhaps even information on where to find food.

Yet judging from its condition, the poor thing looked half starved, with her hair not just dirty, but dull and her ribs partly showing through. Combined with her wounds, some bleeding, and several bruises that were obvious even through her dirtied white and red hair, she was a rather pathetic site. He couldn't help his heart going out to her.

Yet he was also curious in that she had several differences from Blaze. Her longer white hair seemed finer and more cream colored (even accounting for the dirt); her reds, both her body and mane hair and in her facial skin were lighter, a theme that continued in her hands, feet and inner ears in that they weren't purple, but only a light to medium blue. She also lacked the yellow chest swirls all other infernapes had, with the remainder of her yellows lighter, muted. Perhaps they were differences due to being from a different planet, but those weren't the only differences!

With some exceptions, males and females of the same Pokémon species generally looked identical, with no real external distinguishing features…to human eyes, anyway. Yet even with those eyes he could see this infernape didn't appear to follow that principal. She had subtle curves that were clearly feminine, a softer and gentler face, and…small nipples that just peaked out of her wet and still matted white chest hair on top of the barest hints of breasts.

All that alone was enough to catch his eye as Sally seemed to finish checking the infernape for anything broken, but there was yet something else…

"I don't think there's anything broken, but we should quickly clean these wounds and stop the bleeding before we move her again."

Leo dug into one of their packs, pulling out their two (now dirty) wash cloths and three other small high absorbency dish towels, basically all the towels they had. Pouring some precious water from a canteen over one at a time to help clean them a little, he handed them out before kneeling over the head of the infernape to work on her forehead. As the others attended to her other extremities, Lonny now mumbling about how angry she still was about what they had seen, he had a closer look at what was around her neck. Actually two things. The first was what appeared the remnants of some soiled white clothing, long since torn off a few inches below the collar and leaving a ragged edge in its thin material. The other thing, not quite hidden by the rag, was a somewhat thick gold necklace chain and its attached golden pendent about the size of a large coin.

Leaning closer, he concentrated for the moment on a brow wound that looked partly healed, trying to as gently as possible remove all the dirt and grit from it and hoping it didn't get infected. Unfortunately it already appeared so with some puss in one side. They had some first aid supplies with them, but it was all they had. Trapped on this unknown world, the prospect of resupply seemed fairly remote. Yet this infernape was wearing two things that were manufactured, and there were those pieces of old concrete and metal nearby too…

While glancing down at her face, he found with a mild shock her pale yellow and blue eyes were open…staring straight up at him!

"Wa..han..ra infra rafa nanar una…"

Her whispering caught everyone's attention, though her voice fell silent and her eyes closed again. A quick check of her neck proved she was still alive, at least for the moment.

"What did she say?" Sally asked quietly, facing Lonny.

"I…uh, think she said something like: "Human; I'm safe.'"

* * *

For the first time in seven months, Leo found himself in the university's DG lab, though the first time he'd ever entered it from the dimensional gate. Although he would have liked to have taken a moment to look around and greet the humans who were waiting for him, his most immediate concern was finding Chalesti and Akri. Not just to make sure they were OK, but that they weren't getting into trouble!

To his relief they proved to be fine; Chalesti was just at the bottom of the short ramp leading down from the gate, while Akri was floating somewhat off to the side and turning this way and that in wide-eyed observation, his tails swaying with his rapid moments.

Joining Chalesti at the ramp bottom, Leo noticed her mouth open as she started toward the stairs up to the balcony. Naomi was waiting there, brushing her long black hair back, while Ticonamo jumped up from behind a console on the balcony to race down the steps. There were two other humans dressed in blue, both guards, near the lab doors and both looking somewhat worried.

That was right - Ticonamo had mentioned increased security since he and his counterpart "escaped" to the Poké world seven months before.

Naomi walked over, moving past Chalesti to embrace him. Softly: "Leo, welcome back," giving a quick rub between his head fins.

"This place is incredible!" Chalesti exclaimed next to them, hands on what would have been her hips and now turning this way and that in now looking around.

"Isn't it?" Leo replied.

"And so many humans!"

"This planet of humans is strange," Akri mumbled. "No sky? Like a cave…"

Of course, there were no windows in the lab.

"What happened?" Ticonamo asked hurriedly, arriving behind Naomi. "And who are those Pokémon?" jabbing a finger toward the clefable and Azelf-like Pokémon.

"_Subtle_, Ticonamo," Naomi admonished.

The male black-haired Asian grimaced, glancing back at the two security men. "The gate is off already. You can relax!"

One of them shrugged before Akri swooped toward them and started going around the one. "So glum…"

The human looked back, furrowing his forehead while stiffening.

"He says you should cheer up," Leo translated before introducing the two Pokémon… without Akri's guardian title, for the moment.

"So then what's going on?" Naomi asked. "You said there's an emergency?"

Leo nodded. "Is the conference room available?"

It was déjà vu, to use a human term, as he walked in behind Naomi and Ticonamo and the sight and scent of the room hit. About a year and a half before, he had walked in for the first time with Blaze and Celebi to address all the members of the university research team, with the purpose of explaining to them why they had come to Earth and the need to shut down their project to prevent the disaster Dialga had predicted.

Although this time around, it was mostly dark outside through the windows and only Ticonamo and Naomi were there (after ditching the two security men, who seemed to have sudden business in any case). And the Professor was alive back then, too…

"Where's George?" he asked. Last he knew, the young blonde hair researcher usually worked in the lab with Ticonamo and Naomi.

"Went home for the day," Naomi answered. "We were about to leave too, but just got permission to check up on you, and that requires staying late, with the day and night differential between the two planets."

"Yeah, and I have a feeling I'm going to be in some amount of trouble for fully opening the portal without permission," Ticonamo added with a pained sigh.

"Just say I made you do it," Leo replied, hoping for a bit of humor though he didn't really feel like it. Still, he felt a certain amount of relief in having succeeded in finally making it back to Earth. It meant he at least still had a chance, however small it might be. But little hope was better than no hope!

"Very funny. Now what's going on?"

Leo waited as Naomi grabbed some bottles of water of each of them from the small fridge in the corner, thoughtfully removing the caps before putting them on the table. Chalesti grabbed hers immediately, giving it a good looking over before exclaiming "Neat!" and promptly dumping some of the contents in her mouth and down the side of her face. Akri was preoccupied, seemingly enjoying his reflection in one of the windows. Well, he seemed fine where he was, Leo decided before launching into the events leading up to that moment. After, both Naomi and Ticonamo seemed to only stare back in shock from their seats.

"And…you have no idea where they went?" Naomi asked slowly. Pointing to Akri, "Not even the, uh, Guardian here?"

Further down at the table's end, Akri seemed to be enjoying his battle of water in making to float to his lips with telepathy while taking a long drink. On noticing everyone watching him, he shrugged his tiny shoulders, nearly causing the water to drop: "Don't know where goes, but it a…very long way…very, very…far…, with moons…" His eyes seemed to be staring toward nowhere.

Leo took notice, standing up a little straighter. "That's more than what you said before! _How_ far away and what about moons?"

"What did he say?" Ticonamo asked.

Akri almost appeared stunned as his tails spread out a little behind him instead of hanging straight down, as if realizing the importance of what he said. Eyes going wider, he paused for a long moment. "I…think it be…a different planet? Has more than one moon!"

Now he knew why Akri looked stunned. He felt that too as his heart began to pound! "He says he thinks they've been transported to a different planet!"

"Where is it?" Chalesti asked in a suddenly excited tone, slapping her hands on the glossy table.

Akri shrugged slowly.

After Naomi closed her open mouth: "You mean, _another_ one?"

Ticonamo appeared only slightly calmer in letting a out huge breath. "Leo… Oh boy, what can I say? You know, if we know where it is, we can use the gate here to go there, _maybe_. But what about that powerful Pokémon that was trying to kill you? Would we have to contend with that?"

Leo nodded. That'd been high up on his list of thoughts the last few days to be sure. But again, there was hope. "And…that's why I had to come back. I need to find someone. I think there may be one individual here who can not only open that portal, but also stand up to that Pokémon. But time might be running out if it hasn't already; I have to hurry."

"The Guardian here…Akri," Ticonamo said, nodding to the floating Pokémon now a few chairs down, "said it takes a lot of power to open it, and that even that Darkrai couldn't do it? Wait…you think Dialga and Palkia are back?"

"There's been no sign of them, but there is someone _else,_" Leo answered.

Ticonamo froze as Naomi returned a considering stare that changed to shock. "You mean…"

Leo nodded. "I have to find him first, though."

"Find _who?_" a somewhat low and obviously irritated voice said loudly.

"Mister boss man," Ticonamo greeted somewhat stiffly in turning toward the door with Naomi.

Leo sighed. Not _that_ human! Although he'd only met the man a handful of times, it'd been enough for him to know he didn't care much for the chief of the DG Oversight Committee. Turning around to the doorway, he folded his arms across his chest in resisting the urge to reach up and scratch; there was also something about this human that made his fins itch, like an instant irritant. The black-haired man who he guessed was in his fifties didn't seem to wait for an answer though, as he focused briefly on him, then on the two researchers.

Basil Donavan's middle-aged Caucasian face expressing displeasure: "I got a phone call that you fully opened the portal without permission, forcing me to leave my dinner and get over here. Why?"

"Leo said it was an emergency," Ticonamo replied defensively with a nod. "And from what he just told us, I agree…"

"That's for me to decide," Basil said sternly, eliciting a cringe from both the researchers. "That portal is dangerous! We've already had one Pokémon turned into a human from your own report!"

"He rude," Akri said with a near-growl, earning the next stare from the committee chief. Quickly wrapping a blue tail around his water bottle in an apparent attempt to keep it from falling out of the air, the Azelf-like Pokémon returned the stare with arms folded across his small chest.

"Indeed!" Chalesti added, scowling. "I hope few humans are like this here…"

Basil sighed in straightening out his dark blue business suit over his average frame before facing Leo again: "What are those Pokémon? They come with you?"

"They did," Leo answered, quickly deciding to leave out the 'of their own accord' part. "They are Chalesti and Akri."

Frowning even more now but at least speaking more calmly: "So what's the emergency that caused you to convince Ticonamo to open that portal against orders?"

Leo grimaced, hoping that the real say-so in the project might be sympathetic in contrast to the tone he'd already set. He swore the man was ex-military, drawing from what military-type movies he watched with Blaze of how some commanders acted, but from what he'd been told, Basil was never in the military. Maybe he'd been involved with human government… Unfortunately like it or not, he was going to need the man's permission to return to the Poké world and avoid any actions that might get Naomi, Ticonamo or George fired…or worse!

"The other Leo, along with Sally, Blaze, Grovyle and Lonny were transported to another planet. I came here to find someone who can open the portal that got them there so I can go rescue them." That was, essentially, the entire story in a sitrus-berry shell. Leaving out the powerful creature who tried to kill them all of course. Going into that with this human probably wasn't a wise idea right at the moment.

Furrowing his brow just a little, Basil stared down on him for a long moment, then: "Who? A Pokémon?"

* * *

Kol had felt better. Actually, he'd felt a lot better just a few months before. Now shaking, sweating and unsteady, he ducked into an allay only to run into a beat-up garbage can that seemed to jump from the side to block his way, causing him to fall to the asphalt.

But even compared to even recent days, he was feeling worse than usual. It wasn't only the near-constant pain in his head that was hovering around migrate status. Along with the worst moments, he had visions (dreams?) of people and places he could _almost_ identify. Things he somehow _knew _he should know….but didn't, while at the same time memories of other things, particularly from his years before coming to Earth, were slipping, as if evaporating into an ether…

All this he thought started shortly after he'd caused Fore-Nine island to be displaced, perhaps from the beating he suffered there, or the severe knocking around he took from the large wave it generated. The initial symptoms of whatever he was suffering from were just a minor annoyance at first, but over the past year and a half they grew in frequency and severity and in just the last couple months, in painful intensity.

Grabbing his head, he waited until the worst of the pain passed before bracing himself against the garbage can so he could pick himself back up.

Even so, if that's all it was, he was sure he could cope as there were wonderful painkillers available on Earth. Yet…

…it was like there was someone else in his mind, someone both familiar and not, struggling with him for control over nothing less than himself. Worse, every day, bit by bit, he felt himself slipping. Facts…memories, like the name of a friend, a place he'd been to, operations he participated in to exert hybrid control on his planet…were hard to remember…or gone. Even the people who helped him come to Earth, the same people who had been helping him achieve his proper place among his people…

…they were like distant shadows. He could recall none of them! Why?

Telepathy. Someone was attacking him with telepathy.

At least that's what he thought. But how could it be possible? Who could manage such a thing? Who could follow him all over the country and stay close enough, despite his keeping the lowest of low profiles, to pull such a thing off, for over a year?

Actually there _were_ people following him. That much he knew. Government agents he guessed, spotted out of the corner of his eye on occasion and which his own telepathy confirmed to some minor extent. Yet telepathy was such a rare thing…something only some Pokémon possessed to any great degree.

No…there had to be another answer…

Still weak, he collapsed against the red brick wall of the ally wall and just tried breathing normally. A face…one certain face was always looking at him…pale like his own… He knew this person…not his name, but he recognized him as a friend, someone who helped him get to Earth…a person of authority…

…but why did every fiber in him scream that he was an adversary…

Was he going insane?

"Well, well, well."

Kol opened his eyes on several pairs of legs around him. Looking up, three tough-looking young males were standing above him, all with smirks.

"You know, we don't like bums around here," the tallest said.

"That's right," one of the other two added. "We like to keep Saffron a clean city. Not someplace for smelly trash to collect. God, probably hadn't a bath in years..."

The third said nothing, only reaching down and grabbing his very dirty cloak that used to be a pale blue to lift him to his feet.

Kol felt his heart beating, partly from fear, but mostly from knowing what he was likely to do and was already preparing for it. "You are such fools…" Before he could finish his soft voiced warning, the one holding him slammed him against the wall, drawing his fist back.

"We're 'gonna teach you to not be bumming in our territory…"

With a little concentration, he released the building thunderbolt from his free hand. What he had really wanted to do was use telepathy to control them…make them beat up themselves, but in his current state of mind… He allowed the electricity to flow through the three idiot humans, making them convulse for several seconds before stopping. Then in a follow-up, he moved to the side and swiped his hand just before the trio collapsed, letting loose a small spatial disruption to send them flying down to near the end of the ally. All three bounced off the surrounding buildings at least once before hitting the wall at the end.

He hadn't used his full power and their moans proved they were still alive; unfortunately killing them would attract too much attention, though they were probably of the type that deserved it. No doubt they would have at least a few broken bones to remind them to mind their own business though. Still, he needed to get out of there and quickly as there would still be someone showing up to investigate all the noise and light flashes. Too bad the attacks made him feel weaker.

Stumbling again, he barely managed to exit the alley and get down the street. Several people were staring at him… Hopefully they would only think he was drunk or something.

If only that's what it was! Now his head hurt even worse than before as he suddenly seemed to "remember" things that hadn't been there before, arriving as sudden thoughts only more substantial. Using energy like he just did seemed to hasten the process too. Somehow, everything he was…memories, emotions, feelings, personality…his very _identity_, was fading…his mind being…rewritten?

He tried to focus, fighting to hang onto what he had left of himself, but finally had to accept the frightening realization he wasn't going to last much longer.


	12. Chapter 12: Rocks in the Road

_Review or comments on what you like or don't like? Finding any mistakes? Suggestions? Anyone?_

___There's some artwork that goes with this chapter! The link is on my profile page._

* * *

**Chapter XII: Rocks in the Road**

Leo Hanson held the injured infernape close to his chest and trudged on, struggling to get at least a few more meters away from the river before collapsing in exhaustion. Lonny and Blaze already had their turns carrying her, but he proved to be most able. Even so, carrying a hundred-some-pound Pokémon through dense at times vegetation, over uneven ground, and in a hot, moist jungle took a serious toll, especially considering not having much to eat most the day. All they had were just the few berries Blaze and Grovyle found, and even then they were saving most of those for the infernape. The poor thing's ribs were showing, even through her thicker upper body hair…

Shifting her hairy form from his sweaty arms to his other shoulder yet again in trying to find a more comfortable way to carry her, he followed Grovyle and Blaze through another dense cluster of bushes and saplings, Lonny and Sally right behind.

God, was he hungry!

Then…he just about broke out in singing praise at the sight before them of a relatively open patch of ground around a fallen tree! With the sun setting and the sounds of night-time jungle creatures breaking out around them, it looked the ideal place for a camp. Although he'd been hoping for more distance between them and where they found the infernape since their progress had been so slow, he just couldn't go any further! Lonny and Blaze looked on their last legs as well, with his wife little better off in having to take both his and Lonny's packs most the afternoon.

Grovyle started moving to clear the area a little more with his leaf blades while Lonny and Sally helped him lay their new fire-type Pokémon down. "She's still breathing," he said in a tone of hope before Sally even started checking on her.

Blaze was already gathering up kindling from the dead tree in preparation for making a fire, leaving him and Lonny to finally just collapse, nearly back-to-back. Oh…to sit finally…

The former swampert sighed heavily: "If I was still a swampert, I could've carried her the entire way and not even feel it. And I probably wouldn't be starving as much."

"Welcome to a human's world," he replied, not really intending to be mean, but admittedly there was a certain pleasure in seeing someone else being forced to walk in your shoes. His hoped his light tone at least conveyed he was only really teasing.

She only snorted in response.

Feeling nearly unable to move from exhaustion and weakness from hunger, he watched Sally clean the infernape's wounds again with some of their meager supply of antiseptic. Certainly the Pokémon needed it and he'd agreed they should use whatever they had to save the creature, a sentiment echoed in Grovyle's and Blaze's eyes. He also knew if she died because he wouldn't allow them to use any of their supplies, he wouldn't be able to live with himself. For the _n_th time, his heart went out to her in remembering how she was being beaten by those other Pokémon.

Why were they trying to kill her?

When the infernape had awoke briefly, she recognized him as a human and said she was then safe. Which had to mean humans were on this planet…and which could explain the manufactured debris they found. Obviously that prospect offered all of them a great deal of hope. But...he remembered over the course of the long afternoon Kol mentioning his ancestors were transported to a different planet by none other than Palkia himself many thousands of years ago. Could they be on his planet? If not, they knew from Lapras Waverider that either Palkia or Dialga had transported people to the Poké world long ago; perhaps they had done so on this world as well. This new infernape seemed to suggest there were at least a few still around too!

Yet...other than that debris and what the infernape was wearing, they'd seen no sign of civilization, although if there was a small settlement somewhere, the surrounding jungle would certainly make it difficult to find. But even from up on the mountain, they didn't see anything resembling villages or cities or habitation of any kind. As much of the world as they had seen, it appeared very much wild…and lush, hardly the dying world Kol painted for them, if that's where they were. Unless they went back in time also when they were transported from the Poké world…which was a thought he really didn't want to think about.

Back to the infernape's words, the other implication was humans meant safety to her, leading to the next question of how so?

Feeling Lonny and the remnant of her rear fin leaning against his back, warm wet shirt to warm wet shirt, he hoped again the infernape would pull through for multiple reasons. "How's the infection?" asking as his red-haired mate worked on the Pokémon's forehead.

"Looking a little better," she replied without glancing up. "We just might have treated it in time, but she might have a fever. Hard to tell with an infernape, with their body temperature higher than ours. Let's hope Pokémons' quick healing abilities will have her up soon, if she doesn't die from starvation first."

"She better _live_ after all this," Lonny said as Blaze came over after just lighting a small fire a couple meters away. Her words may not have said it, but her tone still conveyed worry.

The much healthier infernape moved to stoop over the other, giving a flick of his tail while getting a good look before putting his hand on her forehead briefly. Wiggling his hand, he indicated borderline fever (a little gesture he picked up while on Earth his swampert counterpart had told him), then a moment later after continuing to watch the prone Pokémon: "Infra her ree…he he."

Leo waited for a translation from Lonny while Grovyle settled down by them, looking rather tired himself from just finishing not only clearing the area, but also having sliced some smaller pieces of wood for the fire. Finally after a silent moment: "What'd he say?" With her back still against him, he felt her sigh again as much as he heard it.

"Nothing important."

"Come on," he prompted. Since it seemed they were going to be together quite closely for the foreseeable future, sharing in the "small talk" was something he really wanted to do.

"Blaze said she's unusual looking but pretty."

His raised his eyebrows slightly; he'd expected some statement of worry. Of course, an infernape male would find an infernape female attractive just as a matter of course. Which wasn't a bad thing. Maybe…she could serve as a partial replacement for his dead swampert counterpart, giving Blaze at least someone to be close to again, since he knew he could never fill his counterpart's role to Blaze to the full degree.

Now that he was thinking about it, he also had to admit…

Granted, the infernape was well beat up, but she _was _pretty. Perhaps his view was aided by the fact she seemed to have some hints of human female physical traits that weren't found on infernape females from Earth or the Poké world.

Hints of human traits…?

…could she have been…

He found himself suddenly crawling past Grovyle to kneel beside Sally. The necklace around the infernape's neck was completely hidden by the tattered clothing remnant. He'd been meaning to get a closer look at it, but until now they'd been too busy getting as much distance as possible from where she was attacked. Now that he had the chance to look, dare he hope it would tell them something useful?

Under his wife's and Blaze's watchful eyes, he lifted what remained of her ragged clothing around her neck and found the metal pendant. Although the pendent and necklace looked robust, he still picked it gently off her matted cream-white chest hair, not wishing to accidently pull very hard. The large, thick coin-size golden object felt substantial in his hand and knew he felt it hit him a few times when he was carrying her. As he thought he noticed before, it did indeed carry a design, though wasn't even close to the sun-symbol.

"Don't suppose you've seen anything like this before?" asking while tilting it so Blaze could see. He watched the infernape shake his white-hair framed head before feeling…different. He was already weak and tired, but the sudden, fast growing faintness seemed out of place…and overtook him quicker than he could place a hand on the ground to catch himself…

_ …a wall loomed in front, filled with etched designs in faded colors, perhaps more so because there was little light. An infernape stepped in front, taking off her necklace and touching the pendant to a indentation in the wall. Immediately, a crack appeared in the wall, slowly growing wider as a panel folded inward…_

Next thing his face was nearly touching the female infernape, feeling many hands moving him to the side and laying him down on his back… Once face-up, he found Sally, Blaze and Grovyle all hovering over him with worried expressions, Lonny's face soon appearing above everyone. "I'm fine," he gasped out, struggling a little to sit back up as his heart raced. "It was the Dimensional Scream."

Blaze's yellow and blue eyes went between him and the pendant that was again laying on the other infernape's chest.

"That pendant?" Sally asked, doing the same with her green and white eyes.

"Must…be," Leo replied while already trying to analyze what he'd just seen. It sure hadn't been a long vision this time!

Grovyle reached his slender green arm to take the golden object between the two claws of his hand. "Groveryle?"

Blaze replied to the grass-type's verbiage, getting Lonny's attention briefly.

"What did you see?" Sally asked, quickly putting the wet cloth she'd been using on the infernape over his forehead.

He didn't need it, but it's wet coolness felt wonderful in the lingering afternoon's heat. Which reminded him yet again of everyone's growing need of a bath after the day of hard work in the warm humid climate… Still, he removed it and handed in back in getting back up. "Use it on her."

"What did you see?" Lonny asked impatiently, grabbing his wrist.

"Lonny!" Sally scolded.

"Infern!" Blaze added while Grovyle suddenly put a scowl on his pointed muzzle.

Lonny almost looked surprised. "S...sorry, I…I'm hot and tired and hungry."

"We all are," Sally replied, putting hand on her shoulder. After the former swampert backed up a step: "But what was in this vision?"

"Actually nothing much," Leo replied. Indeed he wished it had been something more useful…like where they could find some food! "I think I saw our female infernape here putting that medallion of hers into a wall and make an opening appear. That's it."

"Past or future?" Sally mumbled, kneeling to set the cloth back over the infernape's head…and getting a quiet moan in response! "Oh, she's waking up!"

Leo dropped back to his knees, Blaze yipping beside him as Grovyle dropped the pendant and backed up so he wasn't hovering right over her. No doubt if the infernape released a fire-attack for whatever reason, he'd be right in the line of fire, which for a grass-type wouldn't be good! As he watched intently with everyone else, the infernape moved her head a little toward him before opening her eyelids, revealing dull, almost lifeless eyes. He forced a smile, "Hello."

"Hey sweetie, how you doing?" Sally asked, moving around her a little to get in her line of sight while keeping a reassuring hand on her maned head. "Can you understand us?"

"Ha..in…"

Leo started thinking she was about to cough, but she stopped and just nodded slightly instead. Moving her left arm, she slowly touched first Sally's, then his leg before at once looking relaxed. In a whisper: "Rãfa ye."

"She said 'safe'," Lonny translated from the other side of him.

"Don't worry, we'll keep you safe," Leo reassured the Pokémon.

Moving her eyes, the infernape looked to Lonny down by her feet, furrowing her brow.

On her right, Blaze moved closer. "He he, infern rafri…"

"RREEEEE!"

Leo nearly jumped at the female's sudden screech! And before he could even try to get out of the way, she seeming used all her strength in partly picking herself up and using her arms to push herself away from Blaze and Grovyle, toward him and Sally while kicking her legs and nearly nailing both the other Pokémon!

"Hara reha graki reee!"

Then he couldn't do much more than wrap his arms around to catch her as she fell half onto him and forced him onto his rear! She was breathing hard and still failing her arms and legs a little, but also fell silent…

"She's losing consciousness!" Sally said urgently, getting a hand on her one arm while lunging for the other.

Not daring to unwrap his arms from around her stomach, he waited as Sally got firmer hold of her as the infernape's breathing rapidly calmed. Over the seconds, she seemed to settle into a half-conscious state…

"What'd she say?" Leo asked, seeing the perplexed expression on Lonny's face and the stunned ones on Blaze's and Grovyle's.

"She speaks strangely," the light-skinned former swampert replied after exchanging a few words with Blaze and Grovyle. With Blaze nodding, "Some of her words…not quite Poké speech, but close. I think she said 'Get away, all Pokémon trying to kill me'."

"No," Sally mouthed, facing the infernape, "you're safe with these two."

Leo could only stare down at the semi-conscious creature he was holding, feeling real pity towards it. Why did she think _all_ other Pokémon were trying to kill her? It also did seem rather odd, a Pokémon being at such odds with so many other Pokémon. "Let's get her calmed down, then get her to eat something so her strength builds back up. Grovyle, Blaze, since there's still some light left, would the two of you please forage around and see what food you can find? The rest of us could use some too, I think."

Sending both of them away for a little while would hopefully solve two problems, if luck was with them since the few berries they had left they were saving for this infernape. Unfortunately even just thinking about food made his stomach growl even more!

Blaze sighed before nodding and trotting off after Grovyle, the latter grabbing a small cloth bag from one of the packs before disappearing into the surrounding jungle.

Leo kept holding the semi-conscious infernape while getting himself seated better as Sally rewetted the one washcloth and kept it on her red forehead and the infected gash. After digging in one of the packs, Lonny brought out the pitifully small sack of berries.

"Maybe if we just put one in her mouth," she suggested, holding one of the small blue-colored berries close to the infernape's mouth.

"Let's give her a minute first," Sally replied, stroking the white hair along the side of the infernape's face.

Shifting her weight to one of his arms, Leo gently brought the Pokémon against his chest so he could use the other to likewise calm her long red and yellow mane, shoulder, and matted cream-colored upper body hair. Although she smelled strongly (though not much worse than the rest of them), the smoke from the smoldering fire helped mask it somewhat. Finally after several moments of calming from the three of them, she seemed to respond by fully opening her eyes, though otherwise staying limp including her tail. Indeed, she felt extremely weak in his cradling arm and her breathing very shallow.

"Hey, those two Pokémon were just Blaze and Grovyle," he said softly, soothingly. "They're friends and they're out looking for food for us right now. But we have a few berries right here. You need to eat them."

The infernape didn't reply, instead just moving her eyes from his face, to Sally's, then to Lonny's light blue hand as she held a single berry in front of her mouth.

The former swampert put the berry to the infernape's red lips and when they parted, squeezed it in.

Leo felt her chew and swallow with some relief. "Good. How about some more?" He really wished the berries were oran berries, or any other berry that held special properties for Pokémon, but alas according to Blaze and Grovyle, they were just ordinary berries. Though at least berries with a somewhat high sugar content, so there were a fair number of calories in them.

Feeding the rest of the small handful to the infernape proved easy and she swallowed them quick.

"Being hungry is definitely a good sign," Sally commented in a upbeat tone. "Hopefully Blaze and Grovyle will find more."

At that, he felt the infernape tense and he started stroking her head again. "They're friends," he repeated. "You don't need to be scared of them." After a moment, her breathing improved some, becoming less shallow as she tilted her head toward him as if wanting to snuggle closer.

"She should sleep some more," Lonny said, getting agreement from Sally.

In moving to put the infernape down on the ground, she suddenly raised her arm, wrapping around his neck. "Inferńă raf ep ga ape re pa."

"She doesn't want you to…uh…let go of her, I think," Lonny translated, furrowing her forehead between her fin remnants.

"Seems you have a friend," Sally said almost jokingly.

Leo had to smile, though noted the quizzical expression the infernape was forming on her gentle red skinned face as she looked up at him. She didn't say anything though and he didn't let her go, instead moving his legs to try and get a little more comfortable while cradling a hundred-some pound Pokémon in his exhausted arms and lap! But seeing her face melt into a relaxed, peaceful expression made it worth it as he continued stroking her head and shoulder. Even Sally started snuggling close to him to help take some of her weight after a while. Except for his growing weakness due to hunger, his growling stomach and hearing Sally's do likewise, it was starting to turn into a nice evening!

"She sure is at ease with us," Sally quipped. "Almost like a big baby."

Lonny took the duty of keeping the wash cloth wet and cool over the infernape's brow while setting up camp, which was really only laying out their thin sleeping bags and blankets. After, she sat by them on the short, thick jungle grass that had grown in the clearing, crossing her legs before slapping at some bug that was just starting to bite her arm.

"You look comfy," Leo commented to her.

Bracing her arms on her knees as she settled her head on her hands, she shrugged. "You humans are more flexible than swamperts. But I still want my body back."

He grinned, but keep it slight. It certainly wasn't the criticism she had been giving about being human. Looking back down at the infernape, he found her looking rather oddly at Lonny.

"We should consider staying here a few days while she gets her strength up," Sally said after another while. "Obviously it depends on what food we can find, but we can't keep carrying her. Or rather, the two of you." Shifting her one hand to his back, she started rubbing it.

Oh, that felt good! Even more so when she moved it up to his neck to gently massage right where the shoulder muscles came together, forcing a soft moan of pleasure out of him. Instantly he felt himself going limp, though after a few minutes he simply had to move. To the infernape: "Sorry, but I _have_ to lay you down. My legs are falling asleep."

The infernape seemed understanding and didn't say a word as he and Sally gently picked her up to lay her on one of the blankets, Lonny making sure the wrinkles were out of it. The poor thing really was weak, reflecting as the Pokémon hardly moved afterward except for her tail just slightly at the tip. Still, there was nothing to be done until Blaze and Grovyle returned, hopefully with some food. Until then…

…what was that opening in the vision he had? Knowing the Dimensional Scream, there had to be something important about it. The mostly likely conclusion was it was somewhere they needed to go, and the medallion this infernape was wearing was the key. To his wife: "I think we have to go to that place I saw in the Dimensional Scream."

She seemed to nod knowingly. "Did you see enough to have any idea where it was?"

Shaking his head, "Only saw a large wall, and it was dark besides, like being inside somewhere. Or it was night. She's the only one who knows," moving his head to indicate the infernape before them. But that was a question for later.

The Pokémon looked back up at them with a raised thick brow, then quickly tensing as growing rustling in the jungle told of someone approaching. They soon revealed themselves as Blaze and Grovyle, and…the bag Grovyle carried seemed to have something in it!

Leo moved to met them before they approached too far, seeing the injured infernape looked frightened again with Sally already trying to calm her. Again he had to wonder what was really going on with her.

Blaze began yipping excitedly as Grovyle handed the bag over, Lonny also meeting them and sticking her head inside the intercepted bag almost immediately. "Fruits and berries!" the former swampert announced with even more excitement than Blaze. Grovyle quickly had a hand claw around her wrist, speaking a few syllables. "Hey, I was just looking, green boy!"

At least there seemed to be a fair amount for all of them, but their injured infernape would have be given all she could eat first…even if they had to force it down her throat. Hopefully she was still hungry.

After dumping the food out onto a towel, he saw Blaze and Grovyle had managed to find some large light purple berries, similar to large blackberries blown up twenty-fold, and round, small hand-size fruit, like green apples but having cloves resembling garlic.

Sally grabbed one of each to hold them in front of the female infernape. "Which one would you like, sweetie?"

The infernape's yellow and blue eyes widened some as she moved them to the purplish berry, even raising a hand to push it away. "Fern herăfa rena ooni nā ho sā rafa!" Though weak, her alarm was clear!

"She said that berry is poisonous!" Lonny shouted immediately.

Sally quickly threw it into the jungle, wiping her hand on her pant leg after.

With Blaze and Grovyle, Leo helped dispose of the remaining ones on the towel, leaving exactly nine of the green fruit. "Well, I hope these are safe," commenting and noting the female infernape replying.

"She says they are," Lonny translated. "Um...I think."

Grovyle nodded, though even he seemed hesitant.

Leo noticed the female infernape nodding as if confirming, and in the end she had downed three of them with both he and Sally slicing them up for her, which was about as many any of the rest of them could've eaten at once. Still, dividing the remaining six between Blaze, Grovyle, Lonny, Sally and himself made for a decent snack, but left him feeling quite hungry yet. Definitely not as bad, though!

Even while eating, the infernape stared nervously at Blaze and Grovyle as they sat behind Lonny at the edge of the clearing. Finally Blaze got up to approach slowly, speaking softly as he did and carefully working his way close to her, enough to outstretch his hand with his last slice of fruit in his darker purple hand.

The other infernape, for whatever fear she had, still had its grip and she recoiled, speaking urgently. Blaze cocked his head and replied, but it didn't seem to be helping.

"She wants you to protect her Leo," Lonny translated.

Exchanging a glance with his wife to see what she thought of this, she only shrugged with a sigh. After his own sigh, he heaved himself up to go sit beside Blaze, who was still speaking in the unintelligible Poké speech to her. Pointing to each Pokémon in turn, "Listen, Blaze here and Grovyle over there are friends. They helped save you back there. You can relax; you've never been safer."

The Pokémon surprisingly did calm down. Glancing to Blaze, he found the male infernape smiling.

"Infern!"

The other infernape reached out her lighter purple hand, taking the still offered fruit before seemingly replying.

Though Lonny's translation proved it wasn't a direct one to Blaze: "I think she said you're the one she saw trying to rescue her, just before she fainted. And…she wants you to hold her again."

"You definitely made a friend," Sally commented with a smile and a pat to his shoulder.

He was just glad the Pokémon was showing every sign of staying among the living as he moved closer to partly pick her up again. Fortunately the fire was still putting out enough thin smoke to mask her smell…and his.

* * *

Leo opened his eyes and for a moment, was completely disorientated. Right, he was on Earth, in his human self's (and his too actually) house and laying on his bed. Being morning, he instinctively turned to say good morning to Blaze, only…he wasn't there. Like every other morning since returning from that accursed island, the icy feeling of loss gripped him. But like those other mornings, someone else was there.

"Wake up!" Akri shouted in his higher pitch voice, practically in his ear from above.

"I'm already awake!" Leo nearly shouted back, tempering himself just in time.

The light blue and green Azelf-like Pokémon was grinning as he floated up higher, nearly to the ceiling fan that was turning gently, before turning himself around. "Many neat things in here!" Lifting his head a little higher, he loudly sniffed the air. "Food!" Promptly, the Guardian headed out the door of the third-story master bedroom, his tails almost flying behind him.

Leo sighed, not feeling completely rested, but not really tired or restful enough to sleep either. Humans occasionally mentioned something called jet lag. From what he knew of it, the travel between the Poké world and Earth was the same since there was a night-day difference between the dimensional gate and where it was set to exit. Although he, Akri and Chalesti left the Poké world in the morning there, they arrived in the late afternoon on Earth, just like he and Blaze did when the two of them came to Earth the first time a year and a half before.

Even after spending several hours at the lab, mostly talking to the head of the Oversight Committee, and not leaving till midnight when Naomi graciously drove him, Akri and Chalesti to his human self's house for the night, it still was like trying to go to sleep with the sun several hours above the horizon.

Hauling himself off the bed, he headed to the bathroom and the shower. Within a minute, he had warm water pouring over him in the tight stall, making his blue and white swampert skin and purple fins tingle in the refreshing moisture.

At least he had gotten a few hours of sleep. Hopefully Chalesti and Akri did too, although the former seemed to be in complete awe of the humans and their city. It had been a struggle for him and Naomi to convince her to remain in the guest bedroom until morning. Since he hadn't been awaked by a frantic Naomi, he assumed the clefable did so, or at least didn't get into any trouble during the night.

In addition to driving them "home", Naomi volunteered to stay with them and had to be who was currently fixing breakfast. While it had been vacant, she, Ticonamo and George also had been taking turns looking after the house in case anyone had to return to Earth. He needed thank her for that and especially for driving them, which wasn't the easiest thing since neither he, Chalesti or Akri had Poké balls, which otherwise was a quite common way of transporting Pokémon on Earth. As such, Chalesti's pink form barely fit in the front seat, and while Akri was small and floated just behind her, his own swampert body took up the entire cramped rear, laying sideways on the seat and bracing against the front ones lest his spiky gills flexed uncomfortably. Even with all that, his large rear fin blocked much of the view out the rear of the car. Fortunately at that time of night (even being a Friday), traffic was reduced where it wasn't as dangerous as it could have been.

While washing himself, there was really something else on his mind though, that being one particular dream sticking in his mind. In it, he was staring at a darkened wall with some kind of etched design when an infernape appeared in front of it. It wasn't Blaze, but rather looked surprisingly female. She put a coin or something into a small hole, causing a doorway to appear in the wall.

Odd, and it seemed fairly real. He was also certain he'd never seen that particular infernape before, not that he'd seen very many in any case. It left him wondering where the heck such a dream came from.

There was one heart-pounding possibility, though he hesitated to jump to that conclusion for fear of being overly optimistic. Before coming to Earth the first time, he'd had a series of similar realistic dreams. After arriving and meeting his human self, he learned those dreams were actually the Dimensional Scream, since when one had a vision the other experienced it at the same time, even across the distance between planets in different solar systems. If that time happened to be when the other was asleep, it resulted in a powerful dream.

So, if that was what this dream actually was, then it would mean his human self was alive! And if the other Leo was alive...

Not that this was the first time he'd had a vivid dream that wasn't the result of the Dimensional Scream…but it sure _felt_ real.

Nearly done drying himself, he heard Naomi shout up "Breakfast!" and left the bathroom a moment later with a growling stomach. The smell of food was much stronger now and it smelled much nicer than the musty, unused smell that had greeted them when they first entered the house last night. On the first floor in the kitchen, Akri and Chalesti were already chowing on pancakes and oatmeal when he got down there.

"Good, good, good!" Akri exclaimed between mouthfuls, his tails curving upward. Or rather, between tilting the bowl of oatmeal and filling his mouth nearly to the choking point.

"This is wonderful!" Chalesti said before stuffing another piece of pancake (dipped in syrup) in her own mouth.

"I'll assume the food's a hit," Naomi said in serving him his own bowl and plate.

"Seems so," Leo confirmed. "Thanks for fixing this."

"Oh, no problem, Leo." The black-haired Asian woman downed a few bites of her own portion for a moment before continuing, "By the way, I heard from Mr. Donovan already. The committee is meeting this morning to discuss your requests. I'm to bring the three of you, so we need to leave in an hour."

His fins started itching again just at the mention of the human he'd grown to resent, especially after last night. At least the man was willing to let the rest of the committee hear what he wanted. Namely, to find out where Kol was and to let him return to the Poké world with him. Assuming he could convince Kol to cooperate…and survive the asking.

Which was a mighty big assumption.

But if he did somehow manage to convince Kol, he was sure convincing the committee to allow the Pokémon-human hybrid anywhere near the dimensional gate, let alone actually going inside the lab to go through it, was going to be just as great a challenge. Basil's response last night left little doubt how the human felt about it. Didn't mean he wasn't going to try to convince the rest of the committee, and try hard.

Even if he had to…_press_ his case.

"Sure could use Lonny right now," mumbling to himself and earning a stare from Chalesti.

"She was unique," the clefable replied after swallowing. "Uh, why do you need her right now?"

Sighing and sticking to Poké speech: "Apparently she had a unique way of convincing the Oversight Committee to allow her and Christina to travel to our world."

"Oh. Well, I'll help however _I_ can, of course. But…" and she turned her head and body to look around the room. "I want to have a better look at this human world too. Everything here is so…" Waving her one arm around at the room around them, even the fake wings on her back seemed to move in growing excitement. "…exciting! The technology here is amazing! And a world full of humans, I always thought such a world was a myth, now I want to meet every one of them!"

"Be careful about that," Leo immediately warned, "not every human here is friendly. Some would try and capture you." She was of course, about as ignorant about Earth as a Pokémon could be. Just like Blaze had been, with himself not that far behind.

Frowning, "Capture? What you mean…oh, you said something about that when you and Blaze told me about when you came here before. What did you call those things…"

"Pokéballs. They're normally red and white but sometimes other colors, and they're about this big," raising his hands to shape the small approximate size between his large fingers. "You're going to want to avoid any human carrying those."

"Ah…oh."

"That goes for you too, Akri," adding as he faced the floating Pokémon on his other side. The happy but blank return stare said as much the Guardian hadn't been paying attention. After repeating himself a couple times, he felt somewhat sure he understood. Maybe.

"So what are you guys talking about?" Naomi finally asked from the other side of the table. "Feeling kind of left out here."

He grimaced. Of course, if he didn't have the "gift" of being able to talk human, the situation would have been entirely different. "Sorry. Just some basic things of what to do and not do on this planet. There's a lot more I'll have to tell them."

"Oh, right. Their first time here."

Although he'd given the other two Pokémon a quick demonstration of how the toilets worked last night (out of basic necessity), he needed to showed them how the showers worked right after breakfast. Chalesti was fascinated by the rain coming out of a pipe, but quickly understood the fact she needed to make herself as clean as possible for the meeting. Akri was more difficult. Although most Pokémon didn't usually smell as bad as humans (infernapes, unfortunately, were similar to humans in that regard, much to Blaze's chagrin on more than one occasion), the level would eventually be matched when the time between baths was too long.

Akri didn't seem very used to washing, at least not every day or every other day. His excuse was he already had one when he first arrived at Treasure Town. It was easy to tell he'd lived by himself for the most part...

"Well, you need one again today, so get in there," Leo commanded in pointing to the master bathroom shower, the hot water already running and creating a nice, moisture-laden steam. "We'll make a better case to the humans if we all smell good."

The Guardian seemed to take some offense by folding his arms and scowling, but went in anyway. The change was almost comical; in no time, the Azelf-like Pokémon seemed to be enjoying himself immensely in the fine, warm spray. In fact, he ended up having to reach in and grab one of Akri's tails to drag him out flailing and screaming twenty minutes later when Naomi yelled up from her shower on the floor below that all the hot water was gone!

At least once out they were ready to go, unlike Naomi who still needed another twenty minutes to put on clothes, take care of her hair and whatever else human females needed to do, causing them to almost show up late at the large, beige-brick University research building on the outskirts of Pinnacle Valley.

Naturally, the members of the three-person committee were waiting for them as they hurried into the windowless room that was the "other" meeting room the lab had. Although as he noted in spying an already seated George and Ticonamo, the room had been given a more ornate feel with darker carpet and more polished wood since he had last been there.

"George!" Leo greeted happily. The blonde-haired thirty-some year old man was the last of the University Dimensional Gate project team for him to see again since he left Earth six months ago.

"Leo, good to see you again!" the researcher returned. "How you been doing? I hear there's something going on," as he gestured to the room with a slight grimace, but quickly eyeing Chalesti and Akri.

"Well...long story, which I think you're about to hear."

With a growing frown, "Yeah, Ticonomo's filled us in on some of it."

After shutting the door, Naomi took one of the last remaining seats around the dark oak table while Leo had Chalesti simply stand behind him as he stood at the end of table, pushing the last chair out of the way. Although he could use two normal chairs to sit on with his fin placed between them, these were the cushy kind with armrests, making such impossible. Just as well; he felt restless anyway. Looking for Akri, he saw him floating around their end of the room, looking at the various landscape photos hanging on the wall.

_Good; don't do anything embarrassing_.

Opposing him on the other end of the table was of course Basil, with the other two committee members Bill and Sonya, both of whom were probably in their fifties and both he'd already met as well. Certainly, they knew him…

"Our talking Pokémon has returned," Sonya said with a warm smile on her Asian face. "Nice to see you again, Leo the Swampert."

He didn't care for the nickname she'd first given him over a year ago, but she was the one member of the committee who liked him the most. If there was any one of the three to help him, she was the one.

Bill likewise greeted him, not quite as warmly but still cordially. Leo suspected the committee member had a hard time considering a Pokémon as an equal, even if he used to be human and could still speak as one.

"Alright, let's get going," Basil announced curtly after clearing his throat as Naomi, Ticonamo and George all seemed to sit a little more stiffly. "Leo, I already filled in Bill and Sonya on the highlights from last night, but explain everything to them anyway, just to be proper."

He swore the human sounded bored, almost like this was a formality and nothing more. Had the committee already made up their minds?

To one degree or another, he could read their reactions in everyone's body language as he told the story with as much emotion and detail as he could muster: from concern when Lonny was changed to near-human, to raised eyebrows and intense interest when Chalesti showed up with the map and crystal, outright shock on the discovery of the golden flying craft, becoming horrified with the attack from the charizard-like Pokémon. He even had Chalesti pull out her ancient map and crystal as proof, to which even Basil seemed a bit surprised, or at least unsettled. Finally, most stares ended on Akri on recounting how the guardian saved him by stopping his fall and what he said about what it took to activate the portal.

The three committee members exchanged looks among themselves before Sonya spoke first: "You have no idea where they were taken to?"

"Or…if they're still alive?" Bill added hesitantly.

"I know they're alive," Leo replied before remembering he wasn't sure about the proof. "I had a Dimensional Scream vision last night, and it wasn't triggered by me."

"You mean one of those _dreams?_" Basil asked, frowning.

Like a fake oran berry, Basil doubted everything about his ability, Leo remembered. Or at least that's what his human self told him about the man. "No, it was a _vision._ Since I didn't touch anything, it had to be the other Leo, which means he's alive!" Yet…was he _really_ certain it wasn't an ordinary dream? No, he to believe so; like believing they were alive, he needed to believe it was the Dimension Scream as a form of proof.

Sonya sighed before brushing a few long black hairs out of her face. "Not sure how much I believe about that, but from what I've been told, I guess it works. Regardless, my main concern is Kol. Assuming we allow the use of the gate, how are you going to find him and how are you going to convince him to help? As I recall, he tried to kill you and everyone else who went to his island, right?"

He'd been thinking about that for a while, and… "I…don't know yet. I'll just have to talk to him first." Almost certainly, he'll have to answer Kol's probable question of what was in it for him. Further, there was the possibility Kol would use the opportunity to take over the gate, using his limited form of mind control...or just plain brute force, considering how powerful he was.

"I think it's too dangerous to come in contact with him," Bill said after a sip from his coffee cup. "Besides, we don't even know where he is."

"You do, Mr. Donavan," Ticonamo blurted before suddenly covering a cough.

Leo smiled inwardly while expecting some reaction from Basil.

The committee chair gave an irritated sigh. "We heard a _rumor_, leaked by a government official at our last meeting, but an exact location wasn't mentioned." Giving the other two committee people a quick glance, "But the fact remains we can't trust that mutant. Hell, he might use his ability to take over your mind Leo, march you in here under the guise of cooperating, then seize control and finish what he started on Four-Nine Island."

"Why can't we have a Pokémon with Leo that can resist mind control?" George suggested. "I have a friend who has a alakazam who could counteract that kind of telepathy ability…"

Leo looked back with appreciation; George's suggestion instantly struck him as brilliant!

"You know how powerful that man is, right?" Bill returned, turning to face George next to him. "Wasn't he engineered with some of the mythical Dialga's and Palkia's DNA in him?"

"I thought from the interrogation of those working at Derganio, that particular ability of his wasn't his strong suit," Ticonamo countered. "Or at least, he needed the help of drugs in his victims to strengthen its affect."

"One strong alakazam can certainly protect Leo," George supported. "And my friend's one is top-notch, having won several contests with it."

Sonya started shaking her head slowly, "I...don't know. This is a huge risk, no matter what precautions we take, although…"

"It's _too dangerous_," Basil reiterated.

"But it's _my_ risk to take." Leaning a little over the table, Leo wanted to make sure he made that point as clear as a loudred's yell. "Just find out where he is, and I'll make the contact with George's friend's Alakazam for protection." And when the mouths opened in protest, he slapped his three-fingered hands on the table: "And to cut down on the risk even more, we can have some of those government humans around, armed, to make sure nothing happens. Even if he can exert complete control over someone, he can't control very many at once. Didn't you also learn that from the questioning?"

"That brings us to another point," Basil said in likewise leaning over his end of the table to stare directly across, "just _what_ are you going to offer him? Why should he help you?"

And the only thing he had so far was: "A trip to the Poké world. And he can stay there and live as long as he likes if he promises to not make trouble." He could be putting the Poké world at risk by allowing Kol to go there certainly; on the other hand, there were a lot of powerful Pokémon around who could help keep him in check, though it would be like keeping Dialga or Palkia in check. But Wigglytuff had already privately told him he knew others who would volunteer to do such, if the offer needed to be made, and he also sensed Wigglytuff held some hope for turning Kol, being part Pokémon, into someone good…

…although the Guildmaster probably thought it unlikely he'd ever get the chance.

In any case, he did feel quite nervous about allowing Kol onto his own home world. Removing Kol from Earth held some benefit however, like removing the possibility the hybrid could ever build another dimensional gate, seeing as the Poké world had little in the way of technology (save for the golden flying craft, of course). Without the threat of opening a portal to his home world and bringing others of his kind, the hybrid would be limited to "only" doing whatever damage he could do on his own. Which was considerable certainly, but far less than if there were more of his kind. So…bringing Kol to the Poké world would in effect be limiting a lingering risk.

In several sentences he told the committee just that, which then launched a fairly spirited debate between the three and leaving the rest of them on the sidelines. Even though Sonya seemed to favor allowing him to seek out Kol and deciding whether to allow him through the gate later, the other two were taking the opposite stance to different degrees, with no serious movement in positions for quite a while.

Eventually slamming his fist on the table, "Look Sonya, bottom line is allowing that…_creature_ in here could put this entire world in peril!" Basil said firmly. "And we probably don't even know all the tricks he can do."

Sonya stared at him for a good moment before leaning back in her chair, finally nodding and appearing to at last concede.

Naomi quickly stood up. "Now you guys look! We owe it to Leo and the others to at least _try_ to rescue them! This Leo here has already laid out a _good_ plan for confronting Kol…"

The three committee members facing her in an instant, "We owe it to this planet to protect it from your technology!" Basil replied sharply. "I wasn't given this job by the Minister to allow high-risk operations to take place! And that policy has _already_ been violated by Leo's, _both_ of them, running off to that damned Poké world," and facing Leo, "and again by you in talking Ticonamo in letting you return with unauthorized Pokémon! I'm going to have to answer for this, you know!" A couple seconds later and more calmly: "I think as of this moment, we on the committee are all in agreement that we will not attempt to contact Kol. But I think we would be willing let you return to your planet…"

Leo was already breathing harder as he tensed and narrowed his eyes on the committee head. Bracing his hands on the table, he heaved himself up and made the table creak as he tromped on top and down it's the length to position himself directly in front of the human. Then lowering himself so as to be on all fours and slamming both his large hands hard enough onto the table that it nearly bounced up, he looked straight into the man's gray eyes: "This world owes me the opportunity to save my human self, Blaze, Sally, Lonny and Grovyle. And if you are too _ungrateful_ to help, I'll do what I can on my own and you will _not_ stop me!" Having the committee's help would be best, but he was not going to allow them to stand in the way of saving his friends and Lonny!

Some movement to the side caught his attention where Akri was floating himself behind Bill. "Nice human, nice human," the small Pokémon cooed while wrapping his light blue tails gently around the startled human's neck. "I strangle if you try and stop," with a disarming smile.

On the other side, Chalesti looked unsettled with her fake wings twitching as she was positioning herself behind Sonya. "Just tell me what to do Leo!"

Not that he wanted this to become violent, but Leo suddenly found himself hoping a little persuasion Lonny-style might help. Well OK, maybe he was letting his emotions get the better of him, but when it came to his friends, especially Blaze and Lonny, he would go to nearly any length to save them! Facing Basil again, he let out a soft growl to underscore that point.

But the man's sharp-edged face only hardened as he placed a single finger directly to his forehead between the front edges of his head fins and pushed…surprisingly hard. "You don't intimidate me, Pokémon. And your swampert girlfriend already tried something like this. Fortunately for her, we were already about to let her visit you, thanks to the arguments of your friends. Considering what happened, that was a mistake, wasn't it?"

He was about to reply back with something extremely impolite, but heard the doors behind him suddenly bang open and two distinct sets of boots march in. Then came unmistakable clicks before Naomi, Ticonamo and George all gasped.

"What…those?" Akri said as two blue-uniformed security guards came around the table.

"_Basil!_" Sonya said in a sudden protest before the committee chair raised a hand to cut her off.

From the corners of his eyes, Leo saw each of the security humans suddenly leveling semi-auto guns straight _at_ him! Slowly, he raised himself to stand before backing away from the committee head. To Akri and Chalesti (and being careful to keep it in human speech): "Akri, Chalesti, back away to the door. Move slowly."

"This is over the top, Basil," Sonya continued to protest.

"Just give me a moment Sonya, Bill. Since the last episode with that other swampert, I put a new protocol into place. Coming from the military, I would have been stupid not to plan to prevent for such an event." Then facing Leo again: "Now, _Pokémon,_ listen carefully. You are not going to try and contact Kol on your own. Instead, you will go home and wait until we decide you can go back, or what we will do with you otherwise."

"Damned ungrateful human," Leo spat, still being careful not to move.

"Stupid Pokémon. Use that supposed human intelligence you still have and try to see the bigger picture. The other Leo certainly would agree with me."

"The other Leo would try and help his friends just like I'm trying to," Leo glowered back. "I know him far better than you." Which should have gone without saying! When the two guards lowered their guns, he swung around and stormed out of the room with a leap off the end of the other table, making very sure to bang the two conference room doors open as hard as he could, nearly forcing them off their hinges. Behind, he heard both Sonya and Bill starting to argue, but he didn't care; he just kept going for the lab complex's exit. Obviously he wasn't going to get any help here. In fact, they were going to do whatever they could to stop him!

"Leo!" Chalesti's voice yelled from behind, mirroring Naomi's yell as he heard two distinct footfalls running behind him.

Stopping, he faced not just them, but Akri as well. Shouting angrily, "Those idiots sure have a funny way of rewarding someone for saving their damned world!" hoping those left in the room would hear him from down the hall. Almost subconsciously, he felt energy trickling into his one hand in getting ready for the focus punch he desperately wanted to put through one of the walls. With great effort, he stopped the flow.

"Leo, I'm sorry," Naomi said, placing her hands on either side of his wide face just below his gills. "I thought they would have reacted better than this."

"It's not your fault, Naomi, but I need to leave." Truly, he was more angry than anything at the moment, and needed to get out of there before doing something he and everyone else was going to regret.

"OK, I'll drive the three of you home…"

"No. I need to be by myself. I'll take the subway; I know the way." He knew she was aware it was something he was more than capable of doing on his own. He, Blaze and Rosy (albeit the last in a Poké ball) had taken the subways in Jade River City by themselves several times.

Naomi looked at him with great concern.

"I'll be fine. Just bring Akri and Chalesti back with you. I know Chalesti wants to see the lab some more. She loves technology."

"No, I'll come with you," the clefable started protesting. "I wouldn't be a friend if I didn't stick by you…"

Keeping it in human speech still: "It's alright Chalesti, I need to be alone and I need to think." That, and he wanted to mop, too, damnit! "Stay here with Naomi and I'll see you later."

He didn't give them any more time to convince him otherwise as he swung around and hurried for the exit, almost on all fours. Seriously, he needed to be _by himself! _Yet as he rushed past the lab's exit and out into the building's main hall, he felt a presence. Once at the building's main entrance he finally looked behind him, finding Akri doggedly pursuing him! "I said I need to be _alone!_" almost angrily. He couldn't help it, he was still seething!

"I not leave you!" Akri crowed almost proudly. "The Guardian vowed to stay with you, and silly swampert can't make me go away!"

Feeling the energy trickling into his hand yet again, he pounded the main doors open, startling the one guard there as the glass threatened to break. Taking a deep breath of the cool air that was winter in Japan, he let it out as he started marching down the sidewalk on the way to the nearest subway station under the overcast sky. Well, what would he do about Akri? Although he knew he wasn't thinking clearly, he did know he didn't want to hurt the Azelf-like Pokémon…and considering who he was, doing so wouldn't be the best thing. But since the Guardian seemed to be content with simply floating along in silence…

He hardly noticed the two miles to the station while turning over and over in his mind what to do in the face of the warning the Oversight Committee gave him. Should he still try and find Kol on his own? Of course he had to, that was his only chance of rescuing everyone who was dearest to him! Yet without help, how could he possibly locate the Pokémon-human hybrid on his own? The country was a big place and he had no idea if Kol was even in it! The maps he saw of the entire planet came to mind, with all the landmasses equaling a mind-boggling area.

Akri still followed him past several surprised humans as he went down the station's stairs and through one of the open subway doors like any number of humans were. As had been the case every time before, no one complained about him not paying. He didn't have any money on him, and the fare signs expressly stated Pokémon ride free anyway, although they had to be inside their Pokéballs unless they were small. Obviously he didn't qualify as small, but if anyone wanted to complain about it, there was no human owner to complain to!

Under normal circumstances, he would have smiled inwardly at the stares as the train got underway, for Pokémon riding by themselves was not a normal occurrence he learned from experience. Simply returning a few stares, he resisted the urge to scowl and most of the few humans from the first stop just turned away and ignored him and Akri (though the floating Pokémon got a few extra stares). There was plenty of room anyway, being a Saturday. That process of staring, then ignoring, was repeated more frequently on subsequent stops as the train started filling up somewhat in heading toward the center of the city.

Glancing up at Akri to see how he was doing, he found the Guardian with a studied look about him while taking in all the sights and sounds (and smells) the train had to offer, which really was just the various underground stations and the far more varied humans coming and going.

At least all this was taking his mind off of the morning's events a little. Especially when one kid, perhaps around twelve years old and sporting a well-worn cap with the emblem of a Poké ball stitched onto it, started staring at him and Akri from directly across the aisle and wouldn't stop. Leo glowered back at him and the kid finally did stop, but only to pull out a familiar-looking red handheld console. While pointing the Pokédex at him, the computerized voice (that sounded surprisingly quite natural from the last time he heard one) announced him to be a swampert, native to the Hoen region as well as stating his previous evolutionary forms and a few highlights about the species.

_Very good_, he thought sarcastically, but paid more attention when the black-haired kid pointed it at Akri, genuinely curious as to what the 'Dex had to say.

"Unknown. Form not recognized."

The now wide-eyed kid looked back and forth between Akri and the Pokédex several times in obvious amazement, the two men standing next to him also expressing sudden interest in the situation.

"Is that a National Dex?" one asked.

The kid nodded in response.

So…Akri was unique to the Poké world then. Which of course, would make him a certain prize for capture and meant he needed to be on his guard! Looking up again, he noticed Akri staring at the kid's Pokédex with equal amazement. He was about to tell him at least the name of it, but didn't really feel like talking at the moment, and a clearing throat drew his attention anyway.

"Hey, who's that swampert's trainer or owner?" the kid asked, looking back and forth between the nearest half-dozen people while pointing.

The others standing in the immediate area looked between themselves, each becoming more surprised as the seconds went on.

"I'm not," one man finally replied.

"Me neither," another said.

"I'm certainly not!" an old lady rasped out. "Pokémon of that size are too big for me to handle, kiddo!"

The remainder either shook their heads or just shrugged. "Thought it was with one of you."

The kid returned the Pokédex to a back pocket before scratching behind his head. Then directly to him: "Where's your trainer, swampert? And what is that Pokémon floating next to you? Does it have the same trainer?"

Alright, this was fast getting annoying, Leo thought as he stopped looking at the kid to simply stare out the opposite window, although only the dimly lit face of the passing tunnel wall was visible at the moment.

"Is it traveling by itself?" one of the men next to the kid asked with a tone of mild surprise.

"Hey, is that allowed? It has to be with someone, doesn't it?"

Ordinarily he wouldn't have been bothered as much about being called 'it', having gotten somewhat used to it while on Earth last. But today, especially since he was still simmering under the surface about the Committee's refusal to help, it was simply rubbing his fins the wrong way.

"They can't see your gender?" Akri finally blurted out with a snicker from above. "Just like you couldn't tell me?"

It also didn't help that Akri was (unintentionally) adding to it. Really, it was getting to him so much that he had half a mind to "prove" what gender he was. Although doing so wouldn't be just rude, but also highly embarrassing for him more than the humans. As the humans chatted between themselves, he forced himself to take a couple deeper breaths to calm down, remembering that with the reproductive organs of most Pokémon being fully internal for both females and males, he couldn't fully blame humans for not being able to tell the difference in most cases. Still there were other visual clues, if only they were more attuned to them.

"Hey, that wouldn't be that talking swampert that won third place at the Championships last year, would it?"

"But that one had a co-trainer with him."

"Yeah, but the guy said that swampert…what was its name…had to leave right after. Disappeared right after the closing ceremony and no one's seen it since."

"But a swampert riding by itself… Other Pokémon don't do that. Do they?"

Once again, all eyes were back on him as the train pulled into the second to the last stop before his. Even so, he pushed his way to the exit, only forcing a few out of the way in already being close to an exit. All at once he felt himself breathing easier in the larger space with fewer humans around, more so as he climbed the stairs while the subway pulled away below. He was in the mood for some walking anyway…and a certain park he remembered was near this stop.

It'd been a over year and a half ago when he, Blaze, his human self, Grovyle, Chris and his Pokémon all set a trap to confront one of Kol's people in the spacious park located on the north side of Pinnacle Valley. They had intended to get information about why they were being followed, but it only ended in a standoff with the man escaping on the back of one of his two charizards.

Before that, it was also the park where Blaze nearly lost his life in a battle against a blastoise and its nasty trainer who (as they later learned) was also working for Kol. But they had plenty of good times after all that, with him, Blaze, Rosy and sometimes some of Chris's Pokémon having practice battles against other aspiring trainers and their Pokémon when they visited Pinnacle Valley.

All that…seemed a lifetime ago as he arrived behind a bench near one of the practice fields, barely noticing the match taking place some distance away. Despite the humans and Pokémon about, the park felt very empty; Blaze would be next to him, watching with him, remarking how well one side or the other was doing. Perhaps even coming up with an idea they could use.

Now, so…alone…

Well, perhaps that wasn't _quite_ true. As if taking his friend's place, Akri was floating next to him, his complete attention on the battle where a bulbasaur was being pitted against a aipom.

If only that damned committee would let him find Kol, there would be a chance he could bring everyone back…

"It _is_ you, isn't it?" a young human male voice said from behind.

Turning, he discovered the cap-wearing black-haired Asian kid from the subway standing a few meters away on the grass.

"You are _Leo_, the swampert who can talk! I recognize you 'cause you're a smaller than most swamperts. You battled with Chris Urbason in the finals as a co-trainer last year and you're the current third-place champion in this entire region!"

Leo grimaced; he _really_ wasn't in the mood for dealing with attention from that. Maybe once he succeeded in rescuing everyone and things settled down, he might consider returning to have a bit of fun from that accomplishment along with Blaze...if they got assurances they would be allowed to travel back and forth between the worlds.

"I was there at the stadium and watched you; you were so _cool!_"

He simply stared at the almost shaking-with-excitement kid and noticing the Pokéballs attached to his belt, now just visible behind his open jacket. "Glad you enjoyed it," he finally replied…in Poké speech.

The kid frowned slightly. "Can you say that in _my_ language? I mean, I know you can."

"I don't want to," he replied, turning back to the battle and feigning interest.

"What is he talking?" Akri asked, lowering himself a little. "What is a 'tournament'...the humans mentioned underground in that moving box?"

"A contest I won months ago with another human you haven't met yet," Leo answered, just wishing the kid would go away.

"I know it's you," the kid doggedly persisted. "You have the same walking style…and you almost act human. I remember that about you! In fact, I watched the recording of the battles several times! I noticed _all_ that about you!"

He gritted his teeth in trying to ignore him while tightening his large grip on the top slat of the bench, making it creak from the pressure, but the young teenager walked around to the front of the bench blocking his view of the practice battle.

"I'm not leaving until you talk to me in human language. I'm one of your fans! _Please!_"

Unfortunately the kid seemed like he was going to be a pest! Too bad hitting him with a water pulse would likely land him in some amount of trouble… After a long and pained sigh, he looked around to see if anyone else was close by. No one was. Then quietly and in human: "Yes, I'm Leo. Now will you please leave me be? I want to be alone..."

The kid's eyes lit up almost literally as he gasped. Rushing forward, he kneeled on the bench to place a hand on his head at the base of a fin. "Cool! I never thought I'd actually meet you!"

His patience nearing its end, Leo allowed the kid to paw him for a few seconds before moving out of his grasp. "Kid, I want to be…"

"Why did you disappear? And what is that Pokémon with you? My Pokédex can't identify it."

"_His_ name is Akri and he's just visiting here." Really, he was about to yell at the kid to go…or worse, jail be damned.

"Where's he from then? Floating Pokémon aren't common. Is it, uh, he part of your new team?"

"He's from far away and no."

"As in from another country?"

"Something like that." He started moving away from the bench in clear indication he was done. At least it should have been clear.

"Foreign Pokémon are always so neat! Hey…wait! Look, uh…pleasebattleme? You'll probably beat me, but…"

"I don't have any of my team with me," moving his hand to where his belt would have been before turning and walking away. A convenient excuse, certainly!

"No, I mean _you_." The kid hurried past him to stand directly in the way, pointing a finger at his chest. "Ever since I saw you commanding other Pokémon, I haven't been able to stop thinking how neat it would be to actually have a battle against _you_! Commanding so many other Pokémon, you must be really powerful!"

Letting his grimace show more than he would have normally, "Look, kid, I'm having a really bad day. I do _not_ feel like battling." Actually he did, but it was against one very particular human and would be one-on-one…

"But you're a _Pokémon!_ That's what you're _supposed_ to do!"

"Then you don't really know us, do you?"

"What does he mean?" Akri asked, floating around to put himself between the two of them. "He want fight? Why?"

In a few sentences of Poké speech, Leo gave the Guardian the briefest explanation he could of trainer matches as Akri glanced back and forth between him and the kid.

"Oh. You should fight then."

"_What? Why?_" he shot back.

"Because you angry. Fighting help relieve that. Won't it?"

More surprisingly, the Azelf-like Pokémon had a point…sort of. "That depends… "

"And you no fun when you mad." All at once, the light blue Pokémon's eyes widened as he gasped, and then shrieked as he lurched upward several feet, holding one of his tails. Below, the kid was holding his hand as if having just pulled something.

"Ah, sorry," the young teenager said in starting to smile which quickly turned to a quick laugh. "But I just wanted to see what you felt like. You're so unusual. What species are you?"

With a contorted expression Leo had never seen before on the small Pokémon's face, Akri glared downward. In a much lower than normal voice: "Beat that brat, Leo!" His tails turned upward, almost as if there were an angry energy about them as well.

With another, even louder sigh, Leo set his own glare on the boy. "Alright, then. Let's go!"

And once they were on opposite sides of one of the fields, the kid unclipped a Pokéball from his belt, releasing its living contents at the end of a red beam in front of him.

Leo immediately cursed in Poké speech.

"What Pokémon?" Akri asked, still in a lower, angry voice. "Not see him before."

"An ampharos," answering while rubbing one of his gills. "A powerful electric type. And _yes_, I'm vulnerable to electric attacks." Of course any trainer worth his berries would have at least one electric type as part of his team. His mistake: he should have limited the battle to Pokémon whose types were neutral against him just to make it fair. Now…he was likely going to need a Pokécenter after this, and there was no one to take him! Which reminded him…he hadn't told Akri about Pokécenters yet.

"You will still beat him good, right?"

Sadly that was suddenly looking a lot less likely. "A trainer who raises a mareep all the way to an ampharos has to be at least decent," Leo replied. "Assuming he's the original trainer." Akri tilted his head in apparent question, but the kid was giving a command to the ampharos already.

Tensing himself, he watched the cute-looking yellow, white and black Pokémon come running at him, the end of his arm crackling with electrical energy. Alright, so if he was the trainer in this situation… Instead, he quickly caved into instinct to dodge out of the way, seven months since his last battle as a trainer being a little too long for him to think of a strategy in only a few racing heartbeats. But he at least considered it likely the thunder-punch wasn't the real attack; charging at him with a more-or-less physical attack obviously meant he had time to dodge.

And the kid didn't disappoint when he issued the thunderbolt order.

Good strategy was to fake the first attack, using it to get closer so a quicker second attack would be virtually guaranteed to hit.

Even expecting it he couldn't get completely out of the way of the blinding, crackling bolt, although in moving he made it more of a glancing hit, getting his rear fin on the side instead of his body proper. Not that it didn't hurt…and the burning, sharp pain hurt pretty good!

As the attack ran out of energy, he recalled the best way to defeat an opposing Pokémon to which you were at a disadvantage (and you couldn't just switch to another of your team), was to take it out as quickly as possible. The longer such a battle dragged on, the more your disadvantage worked against you.

So with a glowing right fist, he slammed it into the surprised ampharos's white haired belly as he charged in, not even a heartbeat after the lightning bolt had died. He felt sorry for the Pokémon as it fell back several feet, hitting the ground while clutching it's stomach…but then again as he hurried away in case the ampharos decided to fire off a thunderbolt, his fin still was burning with pain!

"Get up Snarky!" the kid yelled with a tone of worry. "Come on, shake it off! You can do it!"

Snarky did so, also proving he was still full of fight as the ground sizzled with electrical energy as the Pokémon placed a fingerless hand down, forcing himself up with almost a jump.

Perhaps he should have followed up with another attack right away, Leo started lamenting as the ampharos seemed to be shaking off his hit rather well!

"You know, I'm going to win," Snarky said with a disarming smile across the bottom half of his pointed snout. "I never lose to water types, even outstandingly strong ones like you."

Sure sounded polite, and complimented him at the same time! "Sorry, but I can't afford to lose. There's no one to take me to a Pokécenter afterward." Waving his hand, he indicated his end of the field where only Akri was floating close to the ground, his tails practically touching it while twisting together.

At that, the ampharos only then seemed to notice there was no human there. Twitching his round, conical ears while furrowing his brow: "Where's your trainer?"

"I _am_ a trainer," Leo replied as ampharos's trainer shouted his next attack order, which was to work close.

Snarky's puzzled expression smoothly transformed to a smile. "Looks like it's time for me to win. We specialize in quick ones."

_This can't be good_, Leo thought as the smiling electric type simply started walking toward him nonchalantly, looking as innocent as anything. Whatever they had planned, it seemed getting in close was still part of it, so the obvious thing to do was move away… Staying just within bounds, he moved quickly along the edges of the field, Snarky following around close to the field's center but only at a walking pace. At first, his evasion seemed to be working, but as soon as he reached the side boundary about halfway between each end of the field, the ampharos spoke again.

"Sorry again for the wait, but we had to get you away from that other Pokémon, otherwise he or she will be caught up in it."

"Caught up in wh…" It was all he got out.

As soon as Snarky's trainer yelled "Now!", the yellow and white Pokémon spread his arms wide and erupted in a blinding ball of electricity, crackling outward in all directions in the blink of an eye.

Leo remembered the flash and being enveloped in painful, paralyzing, convulsing electrical energy. He didn't remember hitting the ground, on opening his eyes the ampharos's feet were just in front of him and he was sure he hadn't fainted just yet.

"Well, I think we won, Snarky," the kid exclaimed. "I thought it would be harder, though…"

He hurt, proving beyond a doubt the already bad day definitely had room for becoming worse. But he was still conscious...and he was feeling angry…really angry…and if he could still move….

Oh it hurt to do so, but he summoned his strength to first brace himself, then leap forward the few feet he needed to crash into the Pokémon and tackle him to the ground hard! Then with a glowing fist, he buried it into the creature's stomach for a second hit in the same spot. And for a finishing touch, he stood up to let loose with a water pulse nearly straight down, nailing the reeling ampharos at point-blank range. With Snarky on the ground moaning in front of him, he raised his head and let out a roar. "I do _not_ lose that easily! _Especially _today, damnit!"

But the new-found strength from his rage that had been building since the meeting with the Oversight Committee was fading, and the massive hit the ampharos had dealt him just a moment before was really making itself known. Before he knew it, he had to brace himself on all fours.

The kid was now screaming: "Get up Snarky, _please!_"

Through watery vision, Leo watched the Pokémon raise a hand, proving it also was still conscious before rolling over to face him. "You…very…strong," it wheezed out. "But I…still win."

Weak as he was, he couldn't even begin to try and avoid the thunderbolt that came from the Pokémon's hand, not that he could of anyway at that range.

Except…he did. Directly upwards.

The thunderbolt shot harmlessly underneath as he floated, striking the chain-link fence well beyond the field's boarder and creating an impressive display of sparks. The look on the ampharos's face was near comical in its surprise. Surely his own face was equally so as he started flailing his limbs in mid-air a few seconds before figuring out what was going on.

Facing his own end of the field, he found Akri with his eyes closed in apparent concentration. "Akri, are you doing this?" he yelled in human speech. The Azelf-like Pokémon opened his eyes and smiled, which seemed to stop the levitation. Without warning, he crashed back to the ground, knocking the wind out of him yet again. "Ow!"

"You need help, I give help," Akri quipped over the distance, looking very pleased with himself. "I not let you get hurt anymore."

"Hey, you can't be helped by another Pokémon!" the kid cried. "This is a one-on-one battle!"

Picking himself off the ground quite slowly, he noticed himself beginning to tremble from low energy and exhaustion, but managed anyway. Still in human speech: "Akri, you can't interfere in a battle. It's strictly between the two Pokémon on the field."

"But you were about to be…"

"Doesn't matter. You can't interfere."

"But…" Akri looked seriously confused for a moment. "But I have to protect you. How can I do that if I can't do anything?"

Protect him? "You don't have to worry. In matches like this, Pokémon rarely get hurt that bad…" Feeling a touch on his back, he looked behind just in time to see Snarky glowing. Next thing he knew, he was waking up on the ground, both the ampharos and its trainer standing over him with a worried-looking Akri floating above.

"Hey, you're awake!" the kid exclaimed as he knelt down. "You know, first thing about battles, don't lose concentration. But of course you know that."

"Sorry," Snarky said, looking down solemnly. "But I have to follow commands."

Leo could barely move as he scowled upward (and even just that hurt), but there was a certain satisfaction in at least seeing the ampharos still holding his stomach in obvious discomfort. Really, the Pokémon looked about to lose whatever was in it!

Unfortunately the kid _was_ right; anytime a Pokémon is on the field, unless it is knocked out or obviously too hurt to continue, it is fair game for attack. Still… "Although…most trainers don't resort to …taking advantage of distractions like that," he chided between silent moans, mentally adding _jerk_. He really hated electrical attacks…

"The distraction came from _your_ side," the kid countered. "Besides, for a water type you were really tough against us. We had to take any advantage we could get! I thought for sure Snarky's first discharge would have knocked you out."

"Let's say I've had my share of electric attacks," Leo replied, taking a moment to brace his arms against the ground in a effort to get up. In the end, both the kid and the ampharos helped him up, though he could barely stay standing.

"I can see why your…um, the Pokémon on your team were so tough, considering how strong you are. By the way, you need help getting to a Pokécenter? I'm out of medicine, otherwise I'd give you some."

It took him a moment to mentally debate the answer, ultimately shaking his head after already feeling his strength returning a little. Pointing to the nearest bench: "I'll just rest here for a while. I'll be fine." Physically, anyway.

Unfortunately the kid had a number of other questions for him, about how he could talk and what happened to him after the Tournaments, both of which he wasn't about to reveal…or rather couldn't without some consequences. But after pointing out that Snarky was still holding his stomach and looked increasingly tired, the kid was soon absorbing him into his Pokéball and rushing off to the Pokécenter after a quick "Bye!" right after begging to see him again later.

Then he was alone again…finally.

"You better?" Akri asked a moment later.

Testing himself, he found he could finally get up again without feeling faint. "Yes, better." Although it was going to be morning before he was back to full strength, unless he found a cache of oran or sitris berries or some medicine.

"Still mad?"

At once he realized Akri had been right about needing to fight to work out some of his anger. Even so: "About this morning? Of course I am. But I do feel a little better now anyway." Since he could now walk again and with his stomach suddenly growling: "How about some food?" Nearly on cue, he heard the faint rumble of Akri's stomach, which was all the answer he needed.

Still, he took Akri through the rest of the park since it was on the way. Although there were plenty of stares from humans around (mostly at Akri he was sure), it still felt a lonely place without Blaze by his side. Just that…not quite as lonely as before with Akri around. The Pokémon certainly had some strange quirks about him, but he was getting used to them. Indeed, he was starting to see him as a real friend; after all, he saved his life once already, and had tried to protect during the battle too. Which reminded him of what the Guardian said….

"Akri, why did you say you need to protect me?" He turned to look up at the light-blue Pokémon with two tails, who glanced back with what seemed surprise.

"I did? I…just…have to. You say you need rescue your friends so and I decide to help and to help everyone too so you can't be hurt so you can do that. That's all."

Leo narrowed his eyes slightly in trying to piece together what the Pokémon just said; For sure, Akri said it all a little too quickly, leaving him the impression he was hiding something. He decided to let it go for the moment though, especially with a man and woman in sweats blocking their path on the park sidewalk.

"Species unknown," the Pokédex one was holding said in aiming it at Akri.

"Wow, a rare Pokémon," the man said excitedly.

"So where's your trainer, honeys?" the woman asked, already pulling out a Pokéball of a different color. "If you don't have a trainer, than both of you are ours!"

Leo wanted to give them a water pulse; but since he was still recovering from the battle, decided simply moving along was the better choice. After giving them a short, stern lecture in Poké speech along with a point toward one of the nearby concession stands where several other humans were gathered, he moved around them to continue their walk, Akri floating a little closer. Giving a quick look behind, he saw the two humans acting confused. "Hopefully they'll think I told them we already have a trainer over there."

"But I…think…I… Uh…what a trainer?"

Leo sighed as his stomach growled yet again.

Once back at "his" house, he fixed a hearty lunch (courtesy of a couple cans of soup that Akri had to operate the non-electric can opener for, thanks to his ill-suited fat blue fingers). Cheerful as ever, the Azelf-like Pokémon quickly downed his bowl in a near-constant slurp. Which wasn't anything that he couldn't match, Leo thought as he opened his much larger mouth and dumped his own bowl's contents in.

While debating what to do next, the front door opened in the living room, Naomi and Chalesti soon appearing in the kitchen doorway…along with George and Ticonamo, each holding a pizza box!

Which smelled as good as he remembered, Leo thought in staring at the flat boxes with red printed designs.

"Human technology is so neat!" Chalesti exclaimed in Poké speech as she walked her pink form into the kitchen first, proudly showing off what looked like some small printed circuit board. "I love this world!" As everyone else filed in behind her, she quickly lost her smile though, replaced by seriousness. "Ah Leo, we all want to help you."

"Late lunch, huh?" Naomi said. "Look Leo, I'm really sorry about that meeting. I thought you had a good argument."

"A damned good one," Ticonamo confirmed.

George nodded. "Basil is being over cautious as usual. So after you left, Naomi, Ticonamo and I talked in the lab, away from the Committee. And we decided: we're going to help you locate Kol however we can."

"And assuming that bastard cooperates, we'll then make sure you can get him to the Poké world," Naomi finished.

Leo felt without words as the three humans stared back, even Chalesti sharing their determined looks about her small, black eyes. "But, you'll lose your jobs for sure." It had been their worry when they helped him, his human self, Blaze, Sally, Grovyle and Celebi make the unauthorized trip the last time. Of course he was relieved that hadn't been the case, but surely it would be this time around from what he had already seen!

"It doesn't matter," Naomi replied with no uncertainty in her tone, folding her arms across her black top and leaning against the wall. "We are going to do what it takes to help our friends."

Ticonamo chuckled, adjusting his glasses back up his nose. "Besides, the committee doesn't let us do much anyway, except for that one trip to the Poké world a couple weeks ago, so we wouldn't be losing much. Who knows, we might have to be joining you on that world of yours after all this!"

* * *

In the weak glow of early morning, Lonny let the tear fall halfway down her face before wiping. Like every morning since they arrived on this damned world, she couldn't help crying some in the morning. For so long she looked forward to joining her mate; then as soon as she arrived at his home, she was turned into an almost-human. Now six days ago, Leo was taken from her by some unnaturally powerful and nasty Pokémon…thing. Without most of her swampert strength, she had been useless to help!

Despite missing him terribly, she refused to let anyone see her cry anymore. If not physically, she at least had to be as mentally tough as she used to be, not just for her own self-esteem, but to prove to the others she could be depended on in their current situation. She refused to give up!

And every night, she knew she would still dream about him...

There…was the _other_ Leo. She could see how the human and her swampert love could have been the same person; their manners, habits, even the way they said things were so alike. As such, she now treasured the human's friendship more than ever, he being her last close tie to her mate. Still, there were differences and ignoring the physical one, the biggest was she could never be attracted to a human; as such Leo's human person could never really replace the swampert one she loved.

Brushing a hand across where her gills used to be, she remembered his touch as yet another tear ran down her face, leaving a cooling streak in the cool morning air…

Hearing stirring behind her, she wiped it as well and sniffled before sitting up on her blanket and turning to the side. Sandwiched between her and the human Leo, the injured infernape seemed to be waking up. Laying on her side, the infernape opened her eyes and stared up at her, eyes shinier and looking more alive than they were yesterday. Then, just about anything looked more alive than she did yesterday!

The infernape took a deeper breath before moving part of her long red and yellow mane out of her face and back over her shoulder.

"How are you feeling?" Lonny asked in a near whisper, hoping not to wake anyone else.

Bracing an arm, the fire monkey slowly sat herself up and looked down at herself. "Hungry…" her word catching as she looked over toward Blaze and Grovyle, visibly tensing.

"They're friends," Lonny said. "They helped save you yesterday. So did I."

The infernape looked the other way and down at both the humans. "He…save me," she replied. "I saw…him."

"You were nearly knocked out, so you didn't see everything then," Lonny replied, surprised she had seen anything at all considering the state they found her in. After a silent moment, "So you're hungry. That's good. But we're out of food, so we'll have to find some today."

"Where…you find…Jammil fruit? They…in large patches…should be…more…"

It took her several seconds to work through what the infernape said, some of her words having the strange accents and syllables she first heard yesterday that made them sound odd. Finally: "That green fruit?" asking as she shaped the size of one with her hands.

The Pokémon nodded.

"OK, then Blaze and Grovyle can lead us to where they found them."

Again, the starved-looking infernape turned her light-red face toward the other two Pokémon with something like fear in her eyes. Then fixing a more perplexed stare at her, "Who are you?"

"I'm Lonny." And pointing to everyone in turn, "Leo, Sally, Blaze and Grovyle. And…we're not from around here. Do you have a name?" Really, she should she explain anything or not? Probably best left to the humans…

"Ruby."

"Nice to meet you, Ruby."

Deepening her perplexed look, the infernape tilted her head. Then reaching to touch her arm, "You speak strange… Your skin is…dim blue…and green. You have…fins…on your head? I haven't seen…human like you…fore."

Lonny sighed. For whatever reason, this infernape seemed to fear all other Pokémon, so she hoped what she was about to tell her didn't upset her. "First, you speak strangely too, and some of your words I don't understand. Second, I'm blue and green because I used to be a swampert. I was turned almost completely into a human not too long ago."

The infernape's yellow and blue eyes just stared back and she was a good moment before even moving a hair. "What's a swampert?"

Lonny wanted to burst out laughing. After getting the urge under control, "Don't you have mudkips or marshtomps around here?"

The infernape shook her head. "Are they…Pokémon?"

"Yes, and I used to be a Pokémon. Now I'm human…or almost. Sorry, but it's a long story honey."

Again Ruby simply stared back with now widening yellow and blue eyes and every look of puzzlement and surprise on her heavy-browed infernape face.

Probably wondering if she was pulling her fin or not, Lonny figured. Or tail in her case. Breaking the eye contact on hearing movement, she found both Grovyle and Blaze stirring on the other side of the fire ring, the grass-type Pokémon sitting up only moments before Blaze relaxed out of his fetal-position. With no real surprise she noticed the tear on Blaze's face.

"Good morning," Blaze greeted cheerfully as he brushed back his mane.

Trying to hide his sorrow now too, she realized. Although as time went on… The human saying of "Time heals all wounds," came to mind, though it sure didn't feel like it yet.

"How are you this morning?" Grovyle asked Ruby.

Ruby drew her knees up to her chest. "Fi…fine."

"She's hungry," Lonny replied for her.

Blaze nodded at that. "I think we all are." Then with a smile that didn't reveal any of his pointed teeth: "And I know I'm hungry enough to eat a ponyta!"

"I'd settle for a basketful of fruit and berries," Grovyle added. After an audible stomach growl: "Maybe make that two."

When Ruby didn't say anything: "Ruby says there should be more of those green fruit where you found the others," Lonny informed. "Apparently they grow in large patches." Looking to the female infernape, Ruby gave a slight, tense nod.

Blaze smiled briefly. "Ha ha. Um…OK. We didn't look very far yesterday, with it getting dark. So, your name is Ruby?"

Again Ruby only nodded slightly, wrapping her arms and tail around her knees and ankles.

"Maybe you and Grovyle should go and look for more," Lonny suggested.

"Sounds like a good idea," Grovyle said in hopping to his feet. Grabbing Blaze's yellow-haired wrist between his two claws and giving a tug, the two of them disappeared into the jungle again, just as Leo turned over to face them.

"Pokémon…sure rise early," the human said with heavy sleep in his voice.

Although the sky was getting lighter, the sun probably wasn't quite above the horizon yet, Lonny thought in looking up through the hole in the jungle canopy. Turning back to Ruby, she found her looking down at Leo and watching as Sally also turned over in the process of waking up.

"Uh…good morning," Leo said, addressing Ruby next to him. "You must be feeling better."

"Yes. Thank…for help…me." Fingering the remnant collar of whatever clothing she had been wearing, Ruby glanced between them several times. Almost self-consciously, she looked down at herself before drawing her knees in tighter. Facing Lonny, "Do you have…clothes I… wear?"

Staring back at the infernape, she needed a few seconds to respond. Keeping to Poké speech: "Clothes? Pokémon don't wear clothes, unless it's for a show or something." Was that different here?

Ruby in turn appeared a little surprised as well in cocking her head. "Well…_I_ do. Humans wear clothes, so…I."

Lonny again needed a moment to sort through the syllables. "Well…I only have what I'm wearing," she finally said, about to ask the infernape why she needed such. Well sure, she had a couple extra "features" that she'd never seen before on an female infernape…but so what. And really, she wanted to ditch her own clothes, being as dirty and smelly as they were, which was as bad as herself. Damn, she needed a bath! But there was a slight coolness about the air, so she wanted the warmth. She also remembered what her Leo told her about humans and nudity…

Well, she was going to have to wash them at some point, and she wasn't going to wear them while bathing! She still thought the entire thing was rather silly, and being mostly human now didn't change her perspective. Clothes just felt…unnatural in a confining way.

Ruby's face became somewhat distraught as she turned back to Leo who still looked to be waking up. Tapping him on the shoulder, "Do you….any…clothes…can wear…?"

Lonny waited for the expected request to translate. At least there was one useful ability she had! "She's asking for clothes to wear." Despite the odd syllables and accents, her question was now easy to figure out, but still sounded odd for a Pokémon to even be asking such. She watched as Ruby glanced between a perplexed looking Leo and her a couple times, her fine and dirtied mane hair swishing from shoulder to shoulder.

"Doesn't he understand me?"

What a silly question! In Poké speech: "Of course not! Humans can't understand Poké speech at all. You didn't know that?" If this infernape knew humans, then it was something she already _had_ to know…?

Ruby's eyes narrowed in apparent confusion. "But…yes they can. Every human I… can!"

* * *

"Clothes?" Leo Hanson asked after Lonny and the female infernape exchanged some words in their unintelligible Poké speech, still feeling only half awake as Sally was stirring next to him. Of course, there was the remnant of cloth she still had around her neck… On looking over the camp with a yawn and noticing two Pokémon missing, "Where's Grovyle and Blaze?"

"Went to get food," Lonny answered from the other side of the infernape. Pointing to her, "Her name is Ruby, and she says there should be more where they found those green fruit. She calls them Jammil fruit."

"Ruby, huh?" Reaching to rub the infernape's pale yellow-haired shoulder a little with his hand, "So you feeling better this morning? You certainly look better." At least her yellow and blue eyes seemed brighter and her large pointed ears perkier.

The infernape, with her legs folded against her chest, seemed to relax under his touch, saying something.

"She still wants clothes."

Beside him, he felt Sally stir more before she let out a loud sigh. Sounding half asleep herself, "Is that our new infernape? How she doing?"

"She's better and...wants clothes," Leo repeated as Lonny and Ruby continued chatting back and forth. "Her name's Ruby."

Tossing the blanket off of herself to join him in sitting up, "But Pokémon don't wear clothes…" she started saying, before seemingly catching herself. "Oh…maybe some of them do here, though..."

That seemed to get the infernape's attention as she swung her short muzzle around. "Infra na renasepa he he?"

"Like I said, we're not from around here," Lonny told her in human speech, giving him a lingering, questioning look.

Leo thought he understood: they might need to be careful what they told Ruby.

"Do, you _really_ wear clothes?" Sally asked.

The infernape nodded.

"Yours would be the closest fit," Leo mentioned back to his mate, just as his stomach growled. Loudly.

"Stop that," Sally moaned with a finger to his stomach. "I'm already hungry enough." To the infernape: "Well, all I have that might fit are a couple of really dirty and smelly shirts. But… why do you wear clothes? I mean Pokémon really don't need…uh…"

Lonny interrupting: "Honey, there isn't any part of you that we haven't already seen yesterday when we were fixing you up."

Leo rolled his eyes; he would've used a better choice of words, but the former swampert was essentially correct, save for a couple more private spots that he consciously avoided. With her facial skin slightly lighter red than Blaze's (and all other infernape's he'd seen), he watched her now turn noticeably redder… It then struck him, could her reaction be _human_ modesty?

Everything else aside, he wasn't sure how to handle this; he'd never encountered a Pokémon who'd was worried about such before! Seriously, nearly all Pokémon truly didn't have much to hide, unlike humans and non-Pokémon animals. And the animals sure didn't care.

Although this particular Pokémon did have something that other infernapes didn't, though still mostly hidden by her thicker upper body hair. Really, she almost resembled a regular monkey or ape in that regard.

With a glare to Lonny (who shrugged), Leo watched his mate get up to reach her backpack and pull out a wadded-up shirt. Offering it to Ruby, "Like I said, it's really dirty, but you can try this."

The infernape's nose instantly wrinkled and her eyes bolted open before handing it back. "Rena oogr sä karna gahe!" Gesturing down over herself before fingering the collar around her neck, she continued with a few more Poké words.

Lonny shook her head. "She wants a…long shirt, gown, or something like that…I think."

"This is all I have," Sally replied. "Sorry." After a moment she repacked it when the infernape didn't move, Ruby only uttering a few soft words.

"You'll be like all other _uncivilized_ Pokémon now?" Lonny asked.

That comment made him raise his eyebrows for a moment. Pokémon raised by humans…or Pokémon like on the Poké world, where they created their own civilization? Speaking of such, they needed to ask her where such civilization was, but perhaps not first thing at the moment. Other questions he was dying to ask included her medallion in particular.

Which could all wait until they had some food, which meant waiting for Grovyle and Blaze to return. Until then, he might as well be useful and started rolling up the blankets, Sally helping to secure them to their backpacks.

"Boy, I'm about ready to faint from hunger," Sally whispered after they finished, grabbing one of the canteens for a drink.

Which served to remind him of a certain bodily need he'd been delaying. After returning from a trip into the surrounding jungle, he noticed Ruby already on her light-purple feet and attempting to get into the jungle herself, though a little unsteadily. He almost had to reach an arm out to her as she went past. "You need help?"

"She's just needs to relieve herself," Sally replied, apparently Lonny having already translated while he was gone.

"Oh." Of course, after being unconscious for so long, she probably _really_ needed to go! Poor thing. And on returning many moments later, proved she was thirsty as well in consuming nearly a half canteen in just a few gulps!

"We better find more water today too at this rate," Sally observed. "It already feels like its warming up."

Meaning they either needed to go back the direction they didn't want to go in, or try and go parallel to the river where they found Ruby until they achieved whatever felt like a considerable distance before swinging back toward it. Certainly the second option seemed the safer.

It wasn't long before there were the sounds of someone moving through the brush and undergrowth. On breaking into the clearing, Blaze and Grovyle held up small sacks, both obviously full, before setting them down by the fire ring, Blaze proclaiming something.

"They found lots of them," Lonny said as Blaze keep talking. "They also found the river. We're still close to it."

"Baths!" Sally exclaimed, her face lighting up. "We can take baths!"

"Just so we're far enough away from those other Pokémon," Leo cautioned, noting Ruby moving closer to him again, as if in fear of Blaze and Grovyle once again. To her: "Don't worry, we'll _all_ protect you." Sally nodded and mumbled something as she was already tearing into one of the fruit as soon as Blaze and Grovyle started handing them out. He watched Ruby hesitantly take one from Grovyle's outstretched claws at arm's length before taking the one Blaze was offering him.

Then for the next while, it was nothing but sounds of a lot of chewing of the semi-crunchy, somewhat sweet fruit. And when he thought he couldn't eat any more, his stomach decided within minutes that it indeed needed more. Fortunately his Pokémon partner and his counterpart's partner had found plenty of the green fruit to the extent that they hadn't finished even half of them.

"Blaze 'as air 'ore were this 'ame frooom," Lonny said between mouthfuls.

"There's even more? Seems like we found a nice spot here," Sally said, smiling before running her fingers through her long red hair. "Food, water, not freezing like it was up in the mountains. _Baths_."

Throwing the core away like the other six before it, Leo sighed, leaning back with a stuffed stomach while watching the others finish up. Ruby seemed to have eaten just as many, which he was glad about considering the outlines of her ribs were visible even through her thick cream-colored hair. She didn't have her knees as close to her anymore and seemed to be gradually relaxing. Funny how food and a full stomach can have that effect, he mused. But it was obvious she remained apprehensive around Blaze and Grovyle.

Hauling herself up, Sally walked around behind him to stop at behind Ruby, giving her head a few strokes behind her ears and along her mane . "Well, I think it's time for a bath," she announced, glancing back at him with a smile.

Leo nodded. First bath in…two weeks? Had it really been that long?

"How far is the river?" Sally continued.

Blaze replied, pointing back the way he and Grovyle had come, Lonny translating it to be simply as "not far".

Grabbing her backpack was all the motivation he and everyone else needed to grab their things and head out. Despite the fear of attack from the Pokémon from yesterday, he found himself feeling more confident they could fight them off, at least enough to get anyway. Must have been the full stomach making him feel brave too. Then again, he was just plain desperate to wash, and, guessing the others were the same.

Except perhaps Ruby, who was keeping very close between him, Sally and Lonny, and anyway from Blaze and Grovyle who were leading the way along what was now becoming a path through the jungle.

There was one...worry, however: he wasn't exactly looking forward to being naked in front of everyone. Sally, obviously, wasn't a problem, nor was Grovyle, really. And not so much Blaze, being male himself. But Lonny and Ruby…

Fortuitously on arriving at the bank of the somewhat wide river, there was a tree that had fallen in with the look of clinging to life in still having most of its leaves.

"Wonderful, a privacy screen," Sally said, mirroring his thoughts.

Ruby was hesitant, but with Lonny, she went on the other side of the tree "screen". And then... Oh, it felt wonderful, and he swore he could felt the layers of dirt and grime dissolving off of him by the second. Soap never felt so good…

As for the problem of not having any clean clothes, Sally dragged what they had been wearing into the river, along with extra soap. It took a while, but they eventually got them clean enough to wear. Wet, that was. Then it was time for washing the other changes they had. Of course Lonny needed some instruction on how wash her own shirt and single pair of shorts. Which of course, meant she was naked during that…

While they were doing that, Blaze and Grovyle took care of other misc things like refilling the canteens, keeping lookout for any other Pokémon, and picking more fruit nearby, finally leaving (a much cleaner and better smelling though still wet) Ruby looking very much relieved as she climbed up and sat on the fallen tree to watch. In fact after a few minutes, she even offered to help wash clothes.

"You need to rest some more," Sally told her, Lonny mirroring that.

"You can help hang them up to dry if you want," Leo offered, to which Ruby seem to nod enthusiastically before either Sally or Lonny could object. Returning his mate's stare: "What?" Hanging up clothes can't be _that_ taxing, and the infernape clearly wanted something to do.

"Well, you sure are looking a lot better this morning," Sally continued after shaking her head. "Sure is a wonder how fast Pokémon can heal."

"We definitely heal better with food," Lonny added with a smirk, then a frown as she stood up, hand on stomach as she held out her clothes. "I think I ate too much."

On taking the former swampert's shirt and pants, Ruby walked along a large branch of the fallen tree, balancing herself with her tail, to carefully fold the green and blue articles over a clear area.

"You look like you've done that before," Sally remarked, brushing her still drying long red hair back as she looked up from washing.

Ruby smiled and nodded, speaking something as she climbed back over.

Lonny raised her eyebrows (which she now had).

"What?" Leo asked, curious.

"She does laundry often."

"He he!" Ruby exclaimed, sitting back down on the one branch with red tail dangling behind, before scratching behind one of her red and purple ears, looking quite relaxed all of the sudden. Her gaze seemed to travel downriver…and slowly, her blue fingers moved up to her neck, touching the medallion that hung from it.

"Maybe it's time we ask her," Sally suggested in a whisper. "If there's some kind of civilization here, we need to find it."

Leo lifted the shirt he was cleaning out of the water and started twisting the still somewhat soiled garment to wring it out. It was as clean as it was going to get without proper detergent, sadly. "Ruby…is there a village or city around here?"

The infernape quickly pointed upstream. "Nari he he infer re frepa rafa ooka harare he he."

Going to the river bank, Lonny retrieved her spear from against the trunk of the fallen tree, looking a bit worried. Stabbing her spear into the soft soil: "Her village is that way. She hopes they're all safe after the attack."

"Attack?"

Leo felt his wife's alarm as she glanced up with her green eyes, pausing in scrubbing the pants she held. "Those Pokémon who were trying…who were attacking you. Did they also attack your village? Is that why you fear other Pokémon?" He nearly said 'trying to kill', but changed his words at the last second. Certainly the infernape knew it to be true, but no sense to bringing it up any more than they had to.

Ruby looked down at him and Sally with worried yellow and blue eyes, speaking a very long string of Poké speech that also held a worried tone for much of it.

Lonny's expression went through several changes, starting out as hopeful, then shocked, then into perhaps anger as her own green eyes narrowed. She spat something in Poké speech before translating: "I didn't get every word, but she said those Pokémon were part of the same group. She lives in a large town of humans. All the Pokémon don't like them and occasionally attack, trying to drive them away…or even _kill_ them if given the chance. They don't often go outside the area of their town for fear of attack. Many days ago, a large number of Pokémon attacked and got past their defenses. She was separated from everyone else and forced away from her home, and was chased ever since by those Pokémon, never giving her time to find food, always too close behind. She'd escaped a couple times when they caught up, but the last time…we got there just in time. She's worried about the fate of everyone back home and wants to get back quickly. She's asking to help her get there. And I want to help; I want to smash some heads!"

Leo waded the few feet to the bank, bare feet slightly sinking into the soft silt bottom, to grab the next dirty shirt Lonny handed him. Likewise, what the heck did they wade into in rescuing this infernape? It almost sounded like a war of sorts… "We do need to find some civilization," he said.

Sally moved in the knee-deep water to Ruby, handing her the pants she quickly finished rising. "Why do other Pokémon not like you and these humans?"

Ruby spoke as she deftly climbed over the branch again to carefully lay the pants out by the other hanging articles.

Again Lonny began translating: "They want her dead because she lives with humans, because she's…like them…civilized? They hate her for that. But it wasn't always like that. Humans and the other Pokémon used to live peacefully long ago, but the Pokémon became aggressive, began to hate them. She doesn't know why. Humans started fearing them, built walls to keep all Pokémon out except for her. Most bird Pokémon at least respected them, didn't try to attack and stayed away, but the wild ground Pokémon…they were spiteful. Other cities had been overrun...destroyed. Her town is the last in this area, the largest and the best defended."

Glancing at his mate, Leo could tell she was feeling unnerved as well...even looking over to the opposite bank for a long moment. If it wasn't clear before, it was now: they had to be on extreme guard for now on. And the two of them nearly jumped at the sound of approaching footsteps and rustling.

Then appearing at the river's bank, Blaze held up another full sack, while Grovyle went straight to the backpacks to set his down.

"Did you see any other Pokémon?" Sally immediately asked with urgency.

The two Pokémon looked at each other before each shaking their heads. The question was on their faces as to why the alarm, especially on Blaze's more human-like one.

Lonny repeated what Ruby had said while Leo helped Sally finish washing their pants and shirts before handing the articles to Ruby. Unfortunately their underwear was next… Hopefully everything wouldn't take too long to dry, considering the morning sun was full on them now.

Sadly, embarrassment over washing underwear was now the least of their worries.


	13. Chapter 13: Gifts

_The crickets are pretty loud... Anyone have any comments, reviews, notes, thoughts, mistakes you see, etc? Seriously, I'm wondering if anyone is enjoying this story or not. But anyway, enjoy the chapter!_

_There are also two artworks that go with this chapter, and an additional one that is related (a conceptual scene). You can find the links on my profile page. But be warned, if you view them before you finish reading this chapter, they ***will*** ruin the ending of this chapter! :)  
_

* * *

**Chapter XIII: Gifts**

Leo thought Akri was going to float up into the ceiling, such was his expression of delight in taking his first bites of the pizza. In fact, he started wondering by the third slice where in Dark Crater the Azelf-like Pokémon was packing all that food away in his small light-blue body. Not that he also didn't have some of the late lunch Naomi, George, Ticonamo and Chalesti had brought back, but Akri did seem a little rounder than before… But ignoring all that, he was at a loss for words at the apparent sacrifice his former colleges (at least they were in his own non-existent timeline) were willing to make for him and the others, except for uttering a simple "Thank-you".

"What are friends for?" George said with mouth full of pizza as everyone sat, stood or floated around the round light-wood kitchen table.

"That's right," Naomi added with a wink and quick rub of a fin. "Besides that, I really don't like the way the committee is running things." Smiling slightly, "Consider this an act of protest."

Raising a hand with a slice of pizza, "Here, here," Ticonamo exclaimed. "Stop me from helping my friends, will they? Death before the disgrace of inaction!" hitting the table with his other fist in obvious mock sincerity.

"I think that'd be taking it a little far," George quietly replied before taking a soda and popping the tab.

"Oh, you never know. We may yet be executed for what we're going to do." Which earned the late twenty-some Asian male a few stares.

Naomi's face melted to something more serious, "So then…just what _are_ we going to do? We don't have even a clue where Kol is. All we can really do is help Leo use the portal. Unless one of you guys have some thoughts on pulling the info out of the committee."

"Didn't they say they don't know where he was either?" George said, helping himself to the last slice.

"And you believe Basil?"

George returned Naomi's look. "Guess…" Shrugging, "I don't know. I just assumed he was being truthful."

"Or he was lying so to give Leo less to go on," Ticonamo theorized. "Surely he has to consider it possible you'll be trying something."

"Probably likely," Naomi added. "And he isn't wrong, right?"

"So he _is_ worried about what I'll do," Leo said with only slight satisfaction, resisting the urge to scratch his fins at the mention of the human's name. "I suppose he has someone watching me, right?"

"We didn't see anyone outside," George replied, catching a falling olive.

"Sometimes you aren't the most observant George," Ticonamo said.

"Then you saw someone?"

"No."

The blonde-haired human shook his head with a sigh before downing the last of the slice.

Leaning back in the kitchen chair, Ticonamo folded his arms across his white tee-shirt in facing Leo. "But Mr. Donovan might be thinking that without any idea where Kol is, what can you do anyway? Considering what we know about how this is being handled, the police and the government aren't exactly publicizing his whereabouts. Getting any information is going to be…hard."

And there was the crux of the problem. He'd already given it some thought while he and Akri had their (first) lunch, but like then, he still had no answer. Nor an hour later after they all moved into the living room and the humans started asking him more detailed questions about what happened on Akri's island, as well as about general life on the Poké world, with the television playing in the background. Which Akri seemed very interested in, to the extent that he floated directly in front of the large flat screen, nose practically touching it.

Unsurprisingly, the three humans wanted to know more about the Guardian as well, but he knew very little else and Akri didn't provide many answers, seemingly distracted by the programming of a baseball game that happened to have some a couple of Pokémon as mascots. Or was it just a convenient excuse for Akri not to answer, Leo felt his more suspicious side ask.

"Well, remember Ticonamo," George said after the man got done explaining something he saw while on the Poké world, "It's my turn next to visit, assuming we get one. Hey, if we find Kol, maybe we can all come along to help."

Leo at once waved his large hands, intending to state very clearly how dangerous that was likely to be when the doorbell rang before he even got a word out.

Naomi jumped up and went to the door while the rest of them looked to the short entryway. With a little surprise, Leo noted through the windows it was now raining steadily. He almost felt like going out there to absorb the moisture...if there weren't other things he had to figure out. Then again, maybe a good walk in the rain might refresh him enough that he could think of something. He gave it a second's serious thought before the voice that answered Naomi at the door sounded immediately familiar.

"Sonya?" George exclaimed, instantly sitting up on the couch with Ticonamo and using a hand to smooth his blonde hair, as Naomi lead the female Oversight Committee member in.

Sonya finished collapsing her umbrella, setting it point-down on the shoe mat in the small entryway while greeting everyone. Brushing some of her black hair out of her eyes on removing her beige rain hat, "No need to get up, I can't stay long."

"So, what brings _you_ here?" Ticonamo asked, moving to sit on the edge of the couch. "A little informal, isn't it?"

"Mean human," Akri said, folding his small arms across his equally small chest as he glowered at her…from next to Chalesti behind the couch.

"You have that right," the pink clefable supported with a twitch of her fake wings.

Of course the humans couldn't understand either of them, which was probably good in this case, Leo thought. Although he also felt no slight amount of animosity!

"This isn't anything official," the older woman returned. "I heard Naomi was keeping Leo company here, but I actually was hoping you would all be here."

George cleared his throat and in a tone of barely veiled resentment: "So what's up then? I thought you guys made things pretty clear this morning. What else is there to say?"

The woman visibly sagged. "First, I want to say I don't share Basil's take on this situation." Facing Leo: "You are right, this world owes you and the others, and I think certain risks we must take. Besides, since I've seen both you and your human counterpart, I can say you're just as cute as a Pokémon, so how can I refuse to help?"

Leo was sure he was starting to blush, though her posture still spoke of authority despite her disarming smile. With growing optimism: "You're going to help us find Kol?"

Reaching into a small pocket inside her rain coat, she carefully pulled out and handed a small folded paper to Naomi. "Basil didn't tell the whole truth. While it _is_ true the government official didn't leak where Kol was, that did not mean we don't have the means to find out, specifically by calling in a favor or two."

With Akri floating over to look over her shoulder, Naomi unfolded the paper. "Saffron, eastern downtown." Quickly looking up, "At this address?"

"He's in Saffron City?" Ticonamo asked.

"That's in the _Kanto_ region," George exclaimed. "That's a long drive! Across most the country!"

"That's his location as of _yesterday_," Sonya explained. "He may have moved since."

"Well…uh, thank you," Naomi stammered.

"Hm, hm, hm," Chalesti said from still behind the couch, bracing herself against it's back-rest. "So one of them is your friend after all, Leo?"

"Perhaps you aren't so bad after all," Leo said to Sonya in human speech. So…his long-standing assessment that she was the one committee member who was most likely to support him was correct after all!

"But I give this to you under two conditions," the committee member continued with a couple raised fingers. "One, you take every precaution in seeking and confronting Kol, and that means having that alakazam with you that George mentioned. Second, that you call me when you find him, but _before_ you actually confront him. I will make the appropriate arraignments to have extra security there quickly in case something goes wrong. Also, don't mention any of this to either Basil or William. They won't like the fact I'm going behind their backs."

"Well…OK, sure," George said, sounding uncertain as Sonya was already putting her hat back on and grabbing the umbrella.

"But…won't they still find out?" Leo asked, stepping forward in intending to see her out as a courtesy. "Does Basil have surveillance on me?"

Sonya smiled again in pausing and looking back on her way to the door. "No. After all, without knowing where Kol is, what can you do?" With a sigh: "Besides, he really just views you as a mere Pokémon, despite who you _really_ are. He may grudgingly respect you, but that's just his attitude toward Pokémon. Call it something from his childhood."

"Really?" Leo asked, actually wanting to know a bit more.

Sonya didn't reply, but reached to brush her hand along the side of one of his head fins, looking almost distant as if about to say something.

At that moment, he felt as if there was something about her…something that he should know or remember… Whatever it was evaporated as quickly as it had come, though.

After hesitating another half moment, Sonya seemed to refocus. "But…do be careful in bringing Kol back to the lab, assuming you get him to cooperate. It's a certainty once you contact Kol, Basil _will_ find out since the man's presumed target after Fore-Nine Island has always been our dimensional gate. I'll then do what I can so you can get into the building, but I don't know how much I can do. Just make sure…make _very_ sure, Kol doesn't use this as an opportunity to take over the gate. Have _two_ alakazams with you if you can. His physic powers, however strong or weak they are, must be held in check."

"Believe me, that'll be our number one concern," Naomi replied.

"Good. Hopefully you'll be able to tell the difference. Good luck." With that, the female committee member opened the door and shut it softly behind her, with a car apparently waiting for her.

After silence returned for a good moment, Ticonamo gave a half-huff, half snort. "Well…what do you know."

"So…we go find that bad human guy now?" Akri asked, his tails curling up behind him in seeming anticipation.

Leo asked the same thing in human speech, though more as a translation.

"Well, not anymore today," George answered in getting up with a stretch. "I'll need to call on my friend and get his alakazam. Don't think he has two, though, but I know the one he has is up there in power."

"And since Saffron City is a good two days drive from here, we'll need to do some packing and preparation," Naomi added, moving toward the corner desk and it's pad of paper.

"Then I guess I'll go see about a rental van," Ticonamo volunteered, following George in getting up and retrieving his coat in the entryway. "Maybe we'll get lucky and find an armored one," his tone indicating more the negative, however.

"Hey, call me later tonight to touch base," Naomi called over to them.

"Will do," George answered, already opening the door.

Ticonamo paused for a second, "Well Leo, looks like we still have a shot at this after all, buddy." Giving a toothy grin, he walked out.

"They aren't wasting time," Chalesti observed, reaching behind her to scratch one of her six wings. "Anything I can do?"

"Me too?" Akri asked, moving to float beside the pink clefable, tails draped over the top of the couch.

Leo asked such of Naomi, but she waved a hand as she sat down and turned on the desk lamp. "Not just yet. I need to make some notes of things we need and to do first. Oh, and I have to call my parents, let them know I'm going out town for a few days. As well as work; good thing we're all due some vacation time. So…you three just rest and relax. Maybe think about what you're going to say to Kol, Leo. I think that'll be important."

"Sounds like a good idea," Chalesti supported. "But, if there's nothing for me to do…" walking around the couch, she picked up the television remote from the end table to start playing with the buttons, immediately finding joy in watching the channels change…

Leo sighed, trying to focus on just how he was going to approach the Pokémon-human when…_if_ they found him. But having good friends helping like they were did help him relax a little, and laying stomach down on the couch, the television became the perfect diversion. Next to him, Chalesti seemed to focus on some show about some Pokémon matches happening in another region, with even Akri floating over to watch…

…as in directly overhead so that his tails kept touching his rear fin, like someone tapping to get his attention. Shifting himself solved the problem and before he knew it, he was being shaken awake by Chalesti, Naomi announcing dinner was ready from the kitchen. She didn't stay very long after the meal though, needing to get to her apartment to pack and said she would be back early morning. That left him alone with Akri and Chalesti for the rest of the night.

"Your house is neat, Leo," Chalesti admired, roaming around before arriving at the wall nearest the entryway and staring at the photos hung there. "These are…what do you call them? They're better than drawings."

Her question seemed to get Akri's interest as well and he was soon floating over to stare at the handful of framed photos. "These humans…are important?"

"They're called photographs," Leo answered Chalesti first. "That man was my father, and the pretty human female was my mother." Like when he first set eyes on them as a Pokémon, he felt various memories stir, including some that even after a year and a half after Uxie did what she could to help him remember his human memories, still felt just out of reach. But he remembered enough of his mother to…miss her.

Chalesti turned, facing him with some unintelligible expression. "Then…you really were human.…"

"You not believe him?" Akri asked, hands on his tiny hips.

Leo watched the clefable stare back and forth between him and the Guardian several times, small mouth opening and closing in seeming indecision.

"I…guess…it just really hit me. I believed you, but only now does it seem real. I'm sorry."

He shrugged in making a sudden decision. "Since it stopped raining, let's go to the roof. There's a nice patio up there."

"A…patio?" Chalesti asked.

"You'll see."

Indeed, Chalesti let out a pleased sigh when they got up there. "Oh…this is pretty," as she headed over to the largest of the potted trees.

Under the broken sky that was letting some of last rays of twilight and several stars through, he was relieved to see all the plants seemed to have been cared for while he and his human self were away…though the trees could probably use some pruning and the roof swept. Still, not too different from the last time he'd been up there so many months ago just before the last tournament battle. Back then, everyone was up there having a pre-battle party, partly to relieve his and Chris's nerves. His human self, Blaze, Sally, Lonny, Grovyle….

How were they doing? They…had to be safe, had to be _alive._ Mentally, he wished with all he had for them to be so. _Just hang on, if luck holds out, I'll be there soon with help. Please, just stay alive! Please!_

Again he started feeling the gripping loneliness that had been torturing him off and on ever since his closest friends and lover were taken away from him. But it also made his resolve to succeed that much greater. One way or another, he would make Kol help him! Even if all he had to offer was a place on the Poké world.

Which wasn't without its risks to everyone who lived there….

"Humans make such pretty places," Chalesti said. "Such intelligence to make such a city, with all its technology."

"This world weird," Akri countered. "Everyplace like this?" waving his arm over the city.

"I think this is just a small area that is a city," Chalesti answered. "A whole planet can't be like this."

"Stars different, but not much," Akri continued, looking up. "One moon, too."

"Leo said this world and our world aren't that far apart, relatively."

Returning to the here and now, Leo joined them at the black iron railing where they were looking over the city around them, the street and building lights providing more than enough illumination in addition to the nearly full moon.

Before he could say anything though, Chalesti changed the subject. "Leo, everyone seems scared of that Kol. Is he really that bad? I remember what you and Blaze said, what happened when you were last on this planet. But…can anyone really be so…bad? Is he really the offspring between human and Pokémon? I didn't think that was possible."

"Not offspring," Leo corrected. "Genetically engineered."

Akri shook his head in clear confusion.

"But that is only what he claimed. None of us could confirm that, but on the other hand, how else to explain how a human can have Pokémon abilities? And not just any abilities, but those of Dialga and Palkia."

"Is ge…net..ecally engineered mean technology? Technology having to do with biology?"

"Yes." Although she apparently didn't understand it, she seemed to at least grasp what it had to do with, which was more than any other Pokémon he'd met. Clearly she was educated, and the extent surprised him some. Akri, on the other hand….

"If we fight, then we say he has Dialga and Palkia weaknesses also. He also…may not be as strong as before."

Leo did a double-take at the floating Guardian. "Er…right, he should have those weaknesses, but what makes you say he might not be as strong?"

The Azelf-like Pokémon seemed surprised with himself in letting out a seemingly forced giggle. "It…a guess. We find out when there, yes? Two days?"

Touching one of his gills, Leo exchanged a glance with Chalesti.

* * *

Lonny trudged behind everyone else, glad they were staying near the river despite the risk that Pokémon would probably be more numerous. It was even warmer and moister than yesterday and she found herself once again drinking just as much as everyone else, which meant lots. If she were still a swampert, she would be greatly enjoying the moisture; now it was just making her sweat as much as the humans (and definitely more than Grovyle…or even Blaze and Ruby). Fortunately the water on this different world tasted as clean as that from a faucet. On Earth, one couldn't just drink from any handy river or stream; some of them were unsafe.

Although obviously still weak, Ruby was keeping up on her own with only slightly more frequent breaks than she herself would have needed, though they weren't really pushing themselves hard out of consideration for her. In a way, she admired just how tough that female infernape was; after the horrendous beating she had taken and from a nearly starved-to-death state, she was up on her feet and walking. Even as a former Pokémon, she felt some awe with their healing abilities in comparison with humans. Of course, if Ruby would have had any broken bones, it would've been a different story. Leo had a broken arm once, so she knew about such things. In fact, she half suspected if he hadn't had such when they first met (and battled), she wouldn't have beaten him (quite) as easily.

Oh…her poor Leo!

Throughout the rest of the morning and afternoon, she'd been able to not think about him. Now his loss hit her hard again, like someone ripping her heart out all anew. At least…his other self…his human self…he was still alive, still with her. That counted for something…didn't it? Meant he wasn't completely dead? The same basic person was still there with her….

Still wasn't the same. Even despite her form changing, she just couldn't see herself with a human in the kind of relationship she had with Leo. She desired other Pokémon…at least as far as mates were concerned. And she wanted _her_ Leo back…

…which wasn't possible! Chip was all she had left of him, and she couldn't even get back to him. Then at the thought of her son, her eyes started watering worse. Least she knew her son was probably alive and safe. That gave her some comfort.

Grovyle, Blaze and Ruby were talking from time to time in front of her, though it was clear Ruby was concentrating on just keeping up. Leo and Sally only asked a few times for translations, mostly about how Ruby was feeling. Other then that, the occasional sighting of jungle Pokémon gave her something else to think about, and she almost would have welcomed some kind of attack. But all they got were fearful glances of the Pokémon and other insects/animals as they ran or flew away. No sign of anyone hostile.

Finally the more mundane tasks of making a clearing and setting up camp late in the afternoon gave her abnormally busy mind something different to work on. Finding enough stones for a fire ring was more of a challenge, but Blaze found the last few rocks and Grovyle dug them out with his claws. After, she went with them to help find and harvest more of the Jamil fruits along with some other berries they happened across, ones that weren't purple. Then on returning to camp, she found herself stopping short, surprised she would care: Sally and Leo were sitting down, with Ruby kneeling behind Leo…giving him a shoulder rub.

"That's my job," Grovyle said, not so much as a complaint, but as one sounding concerned. "You should be resting," on passing the female infernape.

"You're still weak," Blaze furthered.

Lonny set her small load of fruit down in front of them with Blaze and Grovyle, noticing Leo looking up at her.

"Great, you're back," he greeted with a half smile, almost dreamy as the massage continued. Still, he tried to get up, but Ruby gently pulled him back down.

"I'm not done!" she said sternly.

"Would you translate what she's saying?" Leo asked. "Not that I'm not enjoying this, but I think she should be resting." Flinching suddenly, "Oooo…"

"We already told her that, but she didn't listen," Sally furthered in otherwise just sitting and watching. Then shaking her head, "You know, he is my husband; why won't you let me do that?"

Lonny nodded at Leo's request, but really didn't feel like expending the energy; it had been another tiring day. Still: "She said she wasn't done."

"Yes I'm tired," Ruby said, apparently answering an earlier question while working her human-like hands around the back of Leo's neck. "But I like doing this. I've done this for lot's of people. Besides, he…and all of you, saved me."

"So this is a way of thanking him?" Lonny asked.

Ruby nodded, her somewhat finer red and yellow mane flowing over her back a little differently from how Blaze's slightly courser hair did.

Lonny again translated, but couldn't help feeling slightly defensive. Was there more to it than mere thanking? The smile she wore on her red face, the gentle way her blue hands moved…

It reminded her of the way she massaged Leo's neck and back…or…was she imagining this?

Did it matter? As much as she told herself otherwise, that this Leo wasn't her Leo and was a human and not a Pokémon, she still found it hard seeing a female Pokémon doing something like that for him. Further, Ruby was not acting like a typical Pokémon, one obvious difference being the way she walked. It was more upright than Blaze, and a lot like how her swampert Leo walked: human-like. Ruby also had those other slight…more human traits. Perhaps she thought that made her more of a threat?

She didn't mind Sally though. Looking at the red-haired human in settling down by the pile of fruit and berries, Lonny wondered about that. In addition to being someone she's known for a while, the woman _was_ human and Leo's legitimate mate, since from many months before she herself was turned into a (almost) human.

Sighing, she bit into one of the unfamiliar berries after Ruby gave the OK that it was safe, mentally chastising herself for thinking the way she was. She held no attraction for the human Leo, so there was no reason for her to be feeling possessive of him, however slightly. And again, her dead Leo and this Leo were different individuals! (Right?) Further, this infernape was giving them hope in that she came from a city of humans. Maybe, if they were lucky, they would know something about the portal. All they had to do was make it there safely, without being overwhelmingly attacked.

With an sudden idea, she faced Blaze just as he was setting fire to the brush and damp wood Leo, Sally and Ruby had gathered. In Poké speech: "Blaze, you should give Ruby a massage. I'm sure _she_ needs it."

Turning his head after the flames died from his mouth, the infernape raised his brow ridge with his mane puffing a little. "Ha ha, really? I should?" Glancing at the other infernape briefly, "I mean, I wouldn't mind but…"

"I don't need one from you," Ruby called from behind Leo, rather abruptly.

"It wouldn't hurt," Grovyle supported, before using a claw tip to pick out a bit of fruit from his small teeth. Then calmly: "You're still recovering. We had to catch you several times when you tripped, and you look exhausted. You shouldn't be pushing yourself so hard." Taking one of the Jamil fruit in his claws, he went around to stand over her, holding it out. "The smart thing to do is conserve your strength so you recover faster. Now eat."

After a little badgering, Lonny translated most of what was said, causing Leo to wave off Grovyle from taking Ruby's place as the female infernape eventually settled down beside him to eat. "Seriously guys, you're doing most the work here already."

"Yes," Sally said adding a few nods. "And after you're done eating, we're going to give _you_ some massages."

Lonny smiled; that was something she was going to look forward to! And she was going to insist on Leo doing her's….

* * *

Through his eyelids, Leo Hanson sensed it not being totally dark, but not really light yet either in slightly waking. Instead of opening them in his still mostly asleep state, he just smiled inwardly, enjoying the simple (very) warm pleasure of his mate snuggled next to him under the blanket. With her head resting on his chest, he gradually became aware of her soft breathing and arm stretched across him. He almost didn't realize he was already moving his hand over the back of her head, down her neck and through her long, fine hair…down her back…further down…all the way to her…

...tail…

…?

His eyes flew open, telling him immediately what his hand already found out: it wasn't Sally laying on him; it was an infernape! Right…Sally was on his left, Ruby was on his right…but she'd started the night on her own blanket several feet away! Now she was cuddled up against him, much like his wife did. Was she cold in the slight coolness of morning? She felt plenty warm...causing him to sweat.

Well…this was awkward, realizing as his brain became fully awake and his heart rate started slowing. Yet looking at the infernape's sleeping form, she looked entirely comfortable and he hesitated in trying to move her. Glancing around quickly (without moving too much), he found everyone else still asleep in the dim, pre-dawn light. Thankfully.

Back on Earth, many trainers and owners slept with their Pokémon; it wasn't unusual in the least. Although the more evolved a Pokémon became, the less common it became. For himself, although Grovyle normally slept in the same room with him, he still had his own bed. It was much the same when Grovyle was a treeko actually, but he did rotate with his other Pokémon in his bed back when he was a trainer. That gradually came to a stop as they evolved...or put another way, matured. After all, Pokémon weren't normal animals like plain dogs or cats, but were generally several times more intelligent. And unlike normal animals, they could figure out a lot of things just like most human children when growing up. Sleeping together after a while once they were past what was essentially child stage…could lead to some awkward situations, although it really depended on the species of Pokémon, some being more human-like than others.

Ruby, being an infernape, was one of the most human-like.

This infernape, with her one arm stretched out across his chest and wrapped around his other side in an almost intimate embrace…she looked entirely…relaxed. Almost as if this was normal. Of course she was female too…

Wait…didn't she say she was raised in a city of humans, that she was the only Pokémon among them? Perhaps he needed to ask more about that, but in light of other things about her, namely her more "human" physical characteristics and her upright walking stance, it felt like certain evidence was mounting.

Or was he misreading everything? This _was_ a different planet, and they'd already seen from glimpses of other Pokémon that they had somewhat different appearances from what they were used to. Maybe that applied to behavior as well. And maybe Ruby's current action was simply that of a Pokémon, used to being around humans a lot, just doing what felt most safe, most comfortable to her. She was nearly beaten to death, separated from the rest of her people, and was now alone in the middle of hostile territory. She probably needed to cling to someone desperately…especially a human, given her lingering fear of other Pokémon.

He felt immediately sorry for her, especially on thinking back to how she first looked when they found her. Poor thing!

Moving his hand back to her, he started stroking her head, through her mane and white head hair, around the back of her one long, pointed red and blue ear. Most people knew their Pokémon in the normal course of raising and/or training them, often treating them, carrying them, massaging them, holding them, etc, but he'd never had a chimchar. And other than a few pats to Blaze, he'd hadn't really touched a male infernape, but Ruby's hair didn't just look fine, it really was fine compared to Blaze's. Something like half-way between a dog's and a cat's. And in moving down to her side and gently feeling her ribs through her upper coat of cream-colored hair, it was easy to feel she still had a lot of weight to put back on.

Her sudden taking in of a deep breath and letting it out as a sigh got his attention; she was waking up.

But back to his previous thoughts, they needed to find out more about her. And about her people, before they got to her town. He decided with Sally yesterday they really shouldn't press too much, given her condition. Perhaps today they should. She certainly looked and acted better, especially the gash she had on her forehead, which he gently touched. It was close to fully healed already.

The infernape moved her head, picking it up off his chest as she opened her pale yellow and blue eyes to look at him. Smiling, "Infa ra."

"Good morning," he whispered back, giving her a last scratch behind one of her ears that she seemed to enjoy in letting out a little "Mm".

With Blaze and Grovyle looking to be waking up also, the female infernape took another deep breath before slowly raising herself up off of him and into a sitting position. Brushing her long red and yellow mane back over her shoulder, she wrapped her tail back around her front.

Eyes bright, alert, not wincing in pain at certain movements…there was no doubt she was well on the mend this morning. If only humans could heal that fast! If he'd taken that kind of beating she took, he would still be flat on the ground and aching all over, if not having a few broken bones or dead! He still suspected the fruit and berries they'd been consuming the last couple days had at least some mild effect for Pokémon, although Blaze and Grovyle hadn't claimed such.

Those two Pokémon took their turn with baths first, with Blaze making sure the fire was started before leaving so everyone could warm up (not that he needed it), since it was a little cool in the mornings despite being the middle of a jungle. They didn't take long, but long enough that he and Sally were ready for theirs.

"I think we should find out more about Ruby today," Leo suggested while helping to get some water over his wife's back.

"Agreed," she replied, wiping her shoulders with the wash cloth. "We need to know more about where we're going. You've noticed how much she acts human? She doesn't even mind water. Even Blaze reacts a little to it, and he's pretty good with it considering he's a fire-type."

"Oh, I've noticed. When I woke up this morning, I found her curled up against me. I thought she was _you_ at first." Which got him a nice stare.

After: "I think it's obvious she feels safest next to you…or it's that she likes you. I mean, she massaged your shoulders last night. Kind of wished she'd done mine."

"She was good at it, too," he smirked, but just a little. "But she said she was just thanking us…or me at least. I'm wondering how much of her actions is due to simply being different. We're on a different planet, so maybe that's just the way infernapes are around here? She already has somewhat different colorings."

"And shape," Sally replied, glancing back with a return smirk. "But speaking of different planets, when should we tell her where we're really from? I don't think the others have said anything. At least that's what Lonny whispered when I asked." Moving out of water just ahead of him, she handed him a towel before starting to wipe herself down with the other.

Really, he couldn't help smiling for just a moment, admiring the naked beauty of his mate. Of course she did the same to him, the corners of her mouth upturning just a little. Damn, if only they had more time….

"Well, how about we give her another day and tell her tomorrow? What'd she say, that we're a few days away from her town or city yet?"

Leo nodded, remembering what Ruby said the previous day. Unfortunately, she said she'd lost track of the days while she was being chased.

"We also should ask her about that medallion," Sally added.

Oh...seriously, he'd almost forgotten about that.

Lonny and Ruby left immediately for the river as soon as they returned to camp. The two females were quick about their business, returning perhaps only ten minutes later still mostly wet, just after he finished shaving and combing his hair. For some reason, Ruby took interest as he started packing his personal items back up.

Pointing, she said something.

"She's asking if she can take…borrow that," Lonny translated.

"My comb?"

Ruby nodded, so he handed her the small black piece of cheap injection molded plastic. With her mane and body hair still quite wet and somewhat plastered to her, she started running it through her mane as any woman would do after washing her hair and getting it to shape and dry. Apparently, she was well versed in using one!

Sally's glance said it all as Blaze, Grovyle and Lonny also looked on curiously. Blaze didn't do any such thing with his own infernape mane; after his baths, he maybe ran his hands over it briefly to get excess water out, otherwise he simply let it dry on it own in whatever manner it happened to.

After another breakfast of Jamil fruit and berries, Leo was really starting to feel the need for something more substantial, but at least they weren't starving anymore. And they had plenty for the next couple days or so in their food sacks, so he wasn't about to start complaining. Though over the next hour as they followed the bank of the river once again, Lonny remarked the observations Blaze and Grovyle were making about the food plants getting scarce around them.

Ruby seemed to reply, which Lonny also translated: "The large patches of Jamil and other berry plants aren't found in this direction, until we get to her town she said."

"I think we have enough with us for a couple days," Sally replied.

Blaze yipped to that, apparently agreeing as he held back a large branch until everyone else had passed.

Still, Ruby passed the other infernape with still some obvious caution.

"Ruby," Leo started, waiting until she returned to her usual place just in front of him and Sally. "You said yesterday you are the only Pokémon in your village. Why is that? Are _all_ other Pokémon really that hostile?"

She glanced back at him with her pale yellow and blue eyes at the same time as Blaze, providing him with a instant comparison of the eye difference between them. "Fra ne he…" She continued for a while, Lonny obviously listening carefully between asking a question or two in Poké speech.

After there was a break in the infernape's speech, the former swampert launched into it: "The humans were becoming scared of the Pokémon and kept them out of the town before she was born, but they found her when she was a chimchar. The child of one of the women had been sick and died shortly before she was found, so she took her in and raised her as her daughter. She was kept away from the wild Pokémon and was treated as any other human, they made her civilized. So she thinks of herself as a human. That's why she thinks the other Pokémon want to get rid of her like the humans."

That explains a few things, Leo thought, unless she was leaving something out. An infernape that thought of herself as a human. Looking to his wife, her own raised eyebrows mirrored his own.

"You _really_ think of yourself as being human?" Sally asked.

Ruby nodded with a yip and a lazy whip of her tail, both Blaze and Grovyle peering back with surprise.

"You're really an unusual infernape," Lonny commented, adjusting the shoulder strap of her pack before using her spear to thrash a vine aside.

"I've certainly never met a Pokémon like you," Sally furthered, moving ahead and giving the infernape a quick rub on her haired back.

Ruby yipped again before returning the gesture.

Leo had to shake his head slightly at the sheer weirdness of it, before noticing Ruby had quickly paused and waited for him to close the extra step before grabbing his arm. Then she looked suddenly happier walking next to him, sandwiched partly between him and his wife.

"Well, you really _do_ have a friend," Sally remarked, looking behind her.

He heard Blaze sigh just in front of his mate as he followed Lonny and Grovyle.

Had to be great for the male infernape, Leo thought bemusedly. They rescue a female of his species only to find she apparently viewed herself more as human than as an infernape. On Earth, some people did use Pokémon as substitute children, but the Pokémon always retained their Pokémon natures as far as he knew, even as they learned some human habits.

Ruby was acting in a manner he had never heard about even once.

Perhaps being the only Pokémon in a village of humans, kept mostly apart from other Pokémon, changed the situation? Or just heavily taught to act human? Both? Something else? But as he thought on it while Ruby kept hold of his arm, another thought occurred to him, that being perhaps she simply had a real disdain for anything Pokémon, and so made a special effort to be human. Which he guessed made some sense, considering how she was afraid of and disliked other Pokémon.

In the lead, he noticed Grovyle observing her with a raised eye ridge before slicing through a blocking sapling on the river bank with a glowing wrist leaf…then acted startled at something to their left, on the other side of the river….

* * *

Just behind Grovyle, Lonny spotted it as the grass-type lowered himself, his leaf blades not yet glowing but at the ready. Raising her spear in an instant, she got her own defense prepared. At this point of the path they were making, they had a good view up and down the river, only a few small trees and low bushes blocking some of it, but none obstructing the direct opposite bank. There in the late morning sun, a golden light was gleaming off the metallic feathers of a large bird, the reflections constantly sparkling with slight movements, before the bird launched itself from the large dead tree directly across from them…heading almost straight toward them!

"A…skarmory!" Grovyle hissed, raising his blades a little higher.

Lonny mirrored him, taking an extra heartbeat to identify the normally silver bird before sparing only a brief glance to the others. Blaze's mane was puffing as he was moving himself in front of Sally and Leo, while the two humans were crouching down, and Ruby… was crouching with them, somewhat behind Leo.

The infernape couldn't even defend herself against a skarmory, who was especially weak against fire attacks, something that infernapes specialized in? She had no time to mind that though with the skarmory fast closing in.

Halfway across the wide river, the large winged bird abruptly dived, sinking its claws into the water at break-neck speed to cause a spray behind it before rising back up an instant later, a large fish of some variety struggling in its claws.

"It has a…magicarp?" Sally seemed to whisper in quiet awe.

"Wrong color," Leo replied. "But it's shape…"

"Skarmorys are gold here?" Blaze asked, looking back to Ruby.

"Of course they are," the female infernape answered. "What other color would they be?"

Lonny bit her tongue, as the human expression went. Earlier, they'd already had the discussion about not telling Ruby where they were from…not until they felt she was ready to hear it. Her own opinion was they should have told her yesterday already, but if Leo and Sally said they shouldn't, then she would do her best not to. Looking between Blaze and Grovyle, neither of them answered Ruby's question, proving they knew enough not to give any hints either.

The gold and red skarmory circled back to the opposite bank, returning to its high perch where it immediately started consuming the fish. In between bites, it seemed to stare straight at them, even freezing for a moment as if watching carefully before giving a cock of it head. It ate more slowly after that as if in some thought.

"Come on, let's keep going," Grovyle seemed to urge after it became clear the skarmory was going to be eating for a little while yet.

Of course, he was weak against flying types.

After they got moving, she looked over her shoulder anyway, checking to make sure the skarmory was staying put. If she were still a swampert, it wouldn't concern her as much she thought glumly, using her spear to smack some large leaves out of the way with a lot more force than needed.

Since Blaze moved to the rear of the line, to protect against a rear attack should the skarmory decide to take after them he said, that left only Sally between her and Ruby (still leading Leo). "What's wrong?" the infernape female asked after almost gracefully ducking around some other broad leaves, holding them out of Leo's way. "You act angry."

Turning as much around as she could while still watching enough to follow Grovyle, "If I were still a swampert, I wouldn't have to worry about being attacked by anything like that bird," replying in Poké speech. "Being a human makes me so damned weak."

With a cock of her head, "You don't like being human?"

"Of course not," almost spitting. Didn't mean she wasn't getting used to it, at least as how to live in such a form, but it sure wasn't by choice! She would have added how it would make having more intimate moments with her mate more…odd, but since he was dead, that really wasn't an issue anymore, was it? Swinging her spear in anger, she nearly sliced in two a small vine that really hadn't been in the way.

"Careful Lonny," Sally warned. "You'll break your spear swinging it like that."

Lonny nodded, but didn't reply.

"How did you become human?" Ruby asked after a moment. "Is it…something _I_ can do?"

She had to do a double-take at the infernape, nearly tripping over yet another damned fallen branch in the process save for using her spear to catch herself. And the Pokémon sounded hopeful!

Opening her mouth to reply, Blaze just beat her to the question: "You _want_ to become human?"

"Be careful what you wish for," Grovyle said, pausing them before rerouting them around a dense clump of trees. "If I had to become human, I probably…"

Looking forward again, Lonny saw the green gecko Pokémon suddenly had every look of stopping himself from saying something bad.

Continuing: "…er, well, I'm used to being a Pokémon, so it'd take some getting used to."

"Nice recovery," Lonny mumbled, guessing what he had to say wouldn't have been good.

Grovyle wore a nervous smile before snaking them around some more trees.

"I think being a human would be wonderful," Ruby continued.

"Why?" she asked bluntly. Well, OK, she wasn't feeling as bad about it as she had at first. And not that she'd admit it, but she thought she wasn't too bad anymore with her human body. It helped a little that she still was able to use one of her Pokémon abilities, as useless as Protect was most the time, but there were other things she could do now that she couldn't have done as a swampert, since she had more versatile…

"They have hands," Ruby answered.

"Uh, we already have hands," Blaze replied, holding up one of his purple ones and waving it. "Almost exactly like humans."

"But most Pokémon don't," Ruby returned. "And most Pokémon aren't very smart, compared to humans. But…you and Grovyle are definitely the smartest I've ever met. You aren't like any others around here."

"Well, thanks," Grovyle replied.

Ruby continued: "Another thing about humans, is they're very caring and loving, _unlike_ the Pokémon around here."

The female grabbed Lonny's attention after she looked back yet again; she swore Ruby looked up and behind to Leo briefly with something like…

"I envy you, Lonny. Please tell me how I can become human!"

"I wouldn't even think about it," replying with an annoyed sigh. That and she couldn't tell really her until it was time to reveal where they all were from!

"Why shouldn't I think about it? I never thought it was even possible, but you say it is! And your skin sure is different from any human I've ever seen, and you have small fins. So since it's possible, I want to do it!"

The infernape looked quite sincere about her yellow and blue eyes, which only made her more angry! "You only _think_ you want it!" she shot back. Idiot, she was far better off staying an infernape! That and the process was dangerous, she was sure. It also hurt, from what she could remember!

"I _do_ want it," Ruby replied forcefully.

"Is that why you walk upright like that?" Grovyle asked.

"Like a…human?" Blaze added, a tone of remembrance unmistakable in his voice.

Ruby acted surprised for an instance, her mane puffing slightly in looking down at herself, causing both Leo and Sally to look at her as well. "I haven't thought about that. I just do it; it's how humans walk, so I just walk this way too."

"Doesn't that hurt?" Blaze asked.

The other infernape shrugged. "Maybe it did as first, but I got used to it. Got strong."

Cocking his head for a moment behind the humans, Blaze suddenly stood straight up, plodding along for a good many paces while his darker red face reflected more and more strained effort with each step, causing the humans to stare with apparent question and Ruby to look bemused.

After another few moments, Blaze collapsed into his normal leaning-forward position, one arm behind him and hand on lower back. "Ow," was his only response.

"If I had to guess," Grovyle said with a hint of a smirk, "you need to build your muscles up to do that, because it's not natural."

Lonny really couldn't help herself, almost not believing Blaze was making her laugh considering how she had been feeling only a few moments before. "Blaze, my Leo was right. You can be silly."

"He said that about me?"

Lonny faced forward, hiding her face. "Yep. And more." Sure, she could string him out, just because she wanted to.

"Ah…how much more?" the alarm was growing in his voice.

"Lonny, _please_ tell me how you got to be human," Ruby asked again, this time almost pleading.

Damn, she was persistent! With growing annoyance, "I told you…"

"Say, would the four of you like to walk together?" Sally asked, interrupting.

"Yeah, you're all really conversing about something," Leo added with a note of annoyance. "Sounds funny, too. Anything we can be part of?"

"Or…are we already?" Sally added with raised eyebrows.

_Funny?_ "It's private," Lonny responded flatly, breaking into human speak for the first time in a while.

"Ha ha, no it's not," Blaze protested. "He's Leo, you should tell…"

"Hush, pipsqueak! It is for me," she insisted. "I don't want any more lectures about how great being human is." A few days before, she would've added a hiss while saying that and perhaps a curse or two…

In deftly moving around yet another tree and bush clump, it was becoming clear how agile she was getting with her new body though. If she were still a swampert, she would've crashed through some of that clump for certain. OK, _maybe_ if she couldn't be made a swampert again, remaining a human wouldn't be _quite_ as awful as she thought at first. But she would always miss her abilities! To be able to level just one tree with her mach punch right now…

"Would one of you please explain why they can't understand us?" Ruby asked, pointing to Sally and Leo with one of her blue fingers.

"It's because we aren't from around here," Lonny replied in the tone of someone explaining something yet again. Obviously the infernape wanted a more exact answer, but she couldn't tell her that yet!

"You mean far away, humans can't understand our speech?"

Well, they definitely were from far away! "Us _Pokémon…_or former Pokémon in _my_ case, are having a hard enough time understanding you as it is. Your speech is different."

"Some of your syllables and inflections are off," Grovyle elaborated.

"And you use some words I've never heard before," Blaze added. "But I'm getting used to your speech now."

"Your speech is different too," Ruby returned. "But it's not hard to figure out."

"So Leo, nice hot, steamy weather we're having here, isn't it?" Sally asked.

"Indeed it is," her mate answered. "Care to discuss the finer points about cooling system design for maser array assemblies? Or maybe just the lighter aspects to coding to account for trans-frequency interference across intra-dimensional boundaries?"

"Well…actually I was thinking something more like the theoretical limitations of electrical conductance through semi-fluid gasses when compressed into a particle acceleration Heisenberg coil," Sally replied.

"Say…what?" Blaze exclaimed, expressing a common human phrase as his tail raised up behind him.

Grovyle nearly doubled over in suppressing…something.

After shaking her head and making her long, fine mane swish about behind her, Ruby gave an answer to Sally's first question about the weather at a much slower pace, in Poké speech, while looking up at the humans and directing it at them. Of course, neither of them still could understand her, leaving her with a furrowed brow ridge and a perplexed look.

Later, it was early in the evening when Lonny fell to the ground in fatigue, same as she had every evening ever since they got to the accursed planet. As usual, Blaze and Grovyle went about clearing and preparing a site for them, again quite close to the river. Leo and Sally had little to do other than watch in waiting to roll out the blankets, as the fruit and berries they'd been eating needed no cooking. Still, they had to look for more and the humans both said they would do the looking for the day. Which meant she was going to go with them in case anything came up, even though she couldn't do any more than use Protect and her spear. Ruby was going to go too, a fact she remembered when said infernape started pulling her back up by the arm.

"Why don't you stay here and rest a while," Leo said, speaking to his mate. "If there isn't much fruit or berries around here, no sense in everyone coming to look. Just let me do this and rest a while."

Sally shrugged, nodding. "Alright, I'll just wait here then with Blaze and Grovyle and do nothing."

"Well, if you really want to, there are clothes to wash again," Leo smirked. Which just about got a towel thrown at him.

Sad thing was, the human version of Leo was right. With the continuing humid warmth, her own shirt and shorts were _again_ sweaty and smelly, even to her now human nose. Running a hand between her small head fins and through her now somewhat thick hair, that was pretty wet too. And her clothes weren't the only thing that could do with some washing again. Sighing with resignation, she dragged herself behind Ruby and Leo into the surrounding jungle, empty food sack in hand.

Going out a ways, they did succeed in finding a few Jamil fruit, but it was only one scraggly tree-like shrub with no others in sight. "Not much here," she commented to Ruby, who was smiling for some reason.

"Oh, we're almost out of the area they grow," she answered. "But we grow lots in my town. There's other berries as we get closer, if the wild Pokémon haven't eaten them."

As usual, Lonny translated for the human's benefit and they continued looking for another short while until succeeding in finding a short bush with small burnt-orange colored smooth-skin berries, shaped similar to blueberries.

"These are editable," Ruby claimed, handing one to Leo. "They also make breath smell good. I hoped we would find some."

Popping it in his mouth, the human quickly raised his eyebrows. "A little bitter…and then sweet. Not bad."

Lonny tasted one and agreed. It wasn't much of a picking, perhaps a small handful for everyone, but every little bit helped. And once again, the activity demonstrated another advantage her human body had over her swampert one: she would never be able to pick such small, delicate things with large swampert fingers and hands that had no thumbs…

As she was picking the last of them through a particularly dense tangle of leaves and branches, she felt Ruby trying to get her attention with some tapping on her shoulder.

"Would you translate this for me to him?"

"What?" Turning, she found the infernape facing Leo, who was briefly looking in his food sack, apparently judging how much they had found so far.

He quickly noticed both of them looking at him. "Uh, what?"

Shrugging, "She wants me to tell you something."

Stepping closer to his foot-taller form, Ruby spoke, "Tell him…I want to thank him properly for saving my life a few days ago."

"Hey, we all worked together to do that," Lonny pointed out in Poké speech.

"I know. But I can't do _this_ for anyone else."

Leo looked back and forth between them, clearly guessing something was up.

Lonny felt her own sparse eyebrows going up, but translated anyway as Ruby suddenly reached up to place her blue hands on the back and side of his head. No sooner had she finished translating, the infernape closed the small gap between her and Leo, closing her lips on his….

Her heart stopped.

* * *

Leo Hanson realized a lot of crazy things had happened to him in his life. Finding he had a swampert "twin" from a different timeline, helped stopped a powerful human-Pokémon hybrid from another planet from taking over the world by bringing more of his kind, traveled to a world of Pokémon that developed their own civilization. Even finding himself now on yet another planet.

Being kissed by a infernape would seem to pale in comparison.

Yet his heart was quickly pounding and his eyes were as wide as they could be as he dropped the food bag, his first instinct being to try and get away from her by backing up. But Ruby's hold on his head was firm…and there was a tree immediately behind him anyway, preventing any escape! Shock prevented him from doing anything else after that along with feelings of being both flattered and repulsed by her pressing lips!

The infernape seemed…very intent on doing this, and saw that in her pale yellow and blue eyes that were separated from his only by her short red muzzle. A certain playfulness was in them, but they were soon only half open in expressing another look…something not unlike Sally's look when they were passionate.

It was the look of a woman in love!

Her embrace went on for a good, long moment as she rubbed the back of his head a little before slowly, very slowly releasing him, tickling his neck as her arm hair brushed against him. Then he simply couldn't do anything except stand there, heart beating furiously, feeling overheated, and look down at the mostly red and white haired creature. She stood like a human, walked like a human, acted like a human, wanted clothes like a human and, as he just found out…certainly _kissed_ like a human! Surprising similar feel to….

Finally as he started recovering from his shock: "What…was...that for?"

Ruby was looking down, wearing a half smile on her soft infernape face as she brushed her mane back with one of her hands and answered.

Lonny still hadn't closed her mouth a few feet away, but looked halfway to coming out her own shock. It was another moment and a prod later before she translated, her eyes finally narrowing to normal. "She said…um…to thank you."

Ruby was an infernape, yet he could still read her face nearly as well as any human. He felt (literally) there was more to that kiss than merely thanking him for saving her life! Going on that assumption: "Ruby, uh…you know, I'm married. To Sally." Which felt an incredibly weird thing to have to say to a Pokémon! It was a statement normally reserved for other humans of the opposite sex.

Quickly looking back up, she quietly yipped some kind of answer with a even broader smile in a seemingly playful tone he hadn't heard from her before, before she started moving back in the direction of camp, letting out a longer string of syllables in her normal speech voice.

"What did she say?", asking Lonny after putting a hand on her back to get her going; seemingly the light blue-skinned human acted like she was frozen in place.

"She said we probably won't find any more food around here. And…"

"And?" Leo insisted, but fearing the translation.

The former swampert started grinning nervously. "…Sally is only one mate. You…uh…are allowed two."

He was glad it was a good ten minute walk to get back to camp. It took him that long to get himself back together. How was he going to explain this? _Should_ he explain this? But...could he be really certain Ruby wanted him in _that_ way, instead of just playing around, as some Pokémon were wont to do?

Antidotal evidence was that Pokémon did sometimes fall in love with their owners/trainers and vice versa, but was a purely platonic type of love like a child for a parent from all that he'd heard. Or much like how many people tended to love their pets. It never involved passionate kissing…well, that he knew of! Or _any_ kissing from the Pokémon. There were two and only two Pokémon who ever kissed humans except for extremely rare cases, and for smoochums and jynxes it was a form of exploring or attack, not passion!

Oh…he hoped to God he was simply imagining there was more to this than there really was, though Ruby's statement about mates didn't help that line of thinking.

"Looks like you guys found some food," Sally said as he handed over the bag. "Um…did something happen? You look worried."

Looking to Ruby, he watched the infernape tilt her head and smile back at him before kneeling down by the fire ring and kindling that Blaze had just piled up. He felt tempted to return "Define 'something'" to his mate. Instead: "Not…really. Ruby said they grow a lot of Jamil fruit and other things in her town, so we should be set once we make it there." So, he wasn't going to tell his wife what transpired, apparently. Unless…

Flashing a "keep quiet" look to Lonny on the other side of the tiny clearing, she didn't look much for talking anything…at least in human. In Poké speech, she was speaking quite nicely in hushed tones to Blaze and Grovyle, both of whom were giving him and Ruby serious…and surprised looks.

Well, hopefully the former swampert had enough sense to not tell Sally.

Oh for cripes sakes, this was all ridiculous! _Ruby_ was the one who did it…and Ruby was a _Pokémon_! And she _said_ it was just to thank him (looks, acting, and what she said after aside)!

Still, with a sigh, he resolved to tell Sally later, once his own emotions sorted out more.

Some surprised-sounding yipping followed by a "he he" got his attention behind him. At the fire ring, Blaze was gesturing something to Ruby, who was using two sticks in…the classic fire starting technique?

"Ruby, what are you doing?" Sally asked, moving to the ring.

Ruby replied.

"Starting the fire!" Lonny translated with spreading arms and continuing in human speech: "But you're an _infernape!_ You have _fire type_ attacks! Just use one!"

The infernape only looked up to Blaze and Lonny briefly to yip out something before seemingly redoubling her efforts at rubbing the sticks together.

Blaze's mane puffed and his mouth opened, but nothing came out. Grovyle rolled his eyes as he folded his green arms across his red chest.

"What did she say?" Sally asked.

"Uncivilized Pokémon do that," Lonny replied.

Ruby apparently added something to that between light blows on the light, dry moss at the base of the spinning stick.

"And doing this the old human way is more rewarding."

Blaze huffed at that and Leo watched him pick up the food sack while letting out a string of "Infern", "He he" and other assorted sounds that was an infernape's brand of speech in clear agitation.

Lonny added an expression of anger to her following Poké speech, while Grovyle just sat at the other side of the clearing, back to a tree, shaking his head.

Without looking up, Ruby replied with something that seemed to calm everyone down a little and looking to Lonny for a translation.

"She wasn't trying to insult us, just that she doesn't like using her Pokémon abilities at all. They seem primitive to her."

"Ruby, you are one unusual infernape," Sally said.

Blaze nodded, adding something while passing out some fruit and a few berries to everyone except Ruby.

"Thanks," Leo said as Sally took hers. Though it was way better than nothing, he truly was getting really tired of this fruit…

After, Blaze sat beside him, arms folded against his white-haired chest, and bit down seemingly hard on his one fruit. He gave his tail a seemingly irritated whip just as smoke started rising from the dried moss.

A moment of continued blowing later, Ruby had some small flames in front of her muzzle. By placing gradually more and larger scavenged sticks and wood on it (not all necessarily dry), she successfully built up a decent, albeit low and smoky, fire as more night-time sounds started coming from the surrounding jungle.

Blaze sighed, giving him a look and a shrug.

Leo guessed the male infernape couldn't figure her out either. Still, with an infernape from a different planet and raised by humans….

With fire successfully lit, Ruby finally retreated to sit in front of him and next to Blaze, who handed over a fruit to her.

Which surprised Leo a little. Even at lunch she was still keeping her distance from Blaze and Grovyle. Must be finally not fearing them anymore, he hoped.

Sally motioned something around her neck, reminding him of something they were going to ask. He just hoped it didn't lead to something bad, remembering his Dimensional Scream vision. "Ruby," he started and waited for her face him, "What's that medallion around your neck? Is it to something?"

After taking a mouthful of Jamil, she glanced down as she put a finger behind the medallion to reveal it from behind the clothing remnant she still wore. "He he inra lof rafa re narahi frepa nar apeka."

"It's a key," Lonny said quickly. "It's to…uh, something her town keeps safe."

"Ya lof rafa nar apeka, nä infer, he he," Ruby said in the former swampert's direction.

Blaze apparently asked her a question to which Ruby responded, followed by Grovyle voicing something else, though Ruby shook her head after taking another bite of her fruit.

Lonny shrugged, "I have no idea what she says they keep safe. I don't understand the word. But she also says she doesn't know what it is except the name of it."

No matter whatever it was that was being kept safe, the medallion being a key fit with the vision he had after touching it, and he nodded at his wife's concerned look. Blaze, Grovyle and Lonny gave him similar looks too. Being that he did have a vision, he had to assume whatever was being protected had some importance to it, given his (and his former counterpart's) history with them.

"If you don't know what it is, why do you have its key?" Sally asked.

Lonny seemed to react some as Ruby answered, right along with Blaze sitting up straighter and Grovyle raising his eye ridges in obviously great interest. "Because her human mother is the one in charge of keeping it safe. It is tradition when the oldest child is old enough, he or she is given the spare key. They later take over the duties of keeping it safe, as well as learning what it is that's protected."

"Wow," Sally exclaimed."

"So you're rather important in your town, aren't you?" Leo asked.

Ruby looked down and shrugged. Moving her tail out of the way, she leaned back and put her head against his legs, smiling upward at him.

_You have no idea_, he thought in response to his mate's 'you really have a friend' look.


	14. Chapter 14: Friends & Adversaries

_Any comments or reviews would be greatly appreciated. Since this chapter is lighter on action than most the others, I'm keenly interested to hear opinions on if I still made it interesting enough or not._

* * *

**Chapter XIV: Friends and Adversaries**

Kol struggled for breath as his head pounded in pain. It made little difference how he held it; images…places and people, all seemed transparent…even contradictory. Several people he thought he knew, had worked with, had taken orders from, he suddenly remembered in different situations…doing things that didn't make sense! Others, humans he knew he hadn't seen before, he recalled as if friends…and felt he knew them very well.

Who were they?

And every time he "remembered" one of those new things, his head felt that much closer to exploding. Or collapsing. Or going insane.

Fact…illusion…memory…dream…he couldn't tell them apart. The maelstrom was growing as the small amount of sanity he still held on to was fading to nothing; the few things he was still sure of were slipping away from his mental grasp. And he was frightened…

…frightened of what was behind it. Of another seeming presence in his mind…fighting to grab bits of him away…and winning.

There was then…something else. A beacon?

Surrounded by trees of some large park he stumbled into during the previous night's darkness, he leaned against one of them to let himself down slowly, feeling like he was going to heave despite an empty stomach. He breathed heavily in just trying to hang on…both physically and mentally.

Starving to death felt preferable to whatever fate awaiting him, but death by lack of food was going to be too long in coming. He could feel the storm in his mind tightening its grip and he would soon have no conscious control left. That much he could guess.

Would he die? Did he care?

That beacon. What was…

Through the swirling storm of illusions and images, he felt something…familiar about it. The memory of it was strong and the sense was getting stronger…closer….

A dimensional anomaly was approaching…and a swampert he once knew came to his fractured mind.

Yes…_HIM_.

Anger stirring, he resolved to do one last thing before he was completely gone!

* * *

"Do you sense anything?" Leo asked.

"I sense a couple telepathic Pokémon nearby…" the alakazam 'on loan' from George's friend replied, hands pressed lightly to its head while his long, broad whiskers stirred slightly.

After a day and a half of hard driving, they were finally near the location Sonya gave them. From all accounts, Saffron City was quite a beautiful place. But neither he, Akri, Chalesti or the alakazam were seeing much of it from the back of the large van, given their only views were forward past the front seat and through the windshield, or through the two small rear windows in the back doors. Chalesti though, was standing in front of one of those, her pink face plastered to the glass in apparent awe of what she could see of the city in the early afternoon. Every once in a while, one or more of her six fake wings would twitch.

From excitement, he guessed. For himself, he didn't care much. Finding Kol was the single reason they were there and the only thing he could focus on. He knew that although Chalesti appeared carefree at the moment, she had full grasp of the gravity of the situation, to use a more human expression that felt familiar. With a rub of a gill, he envied her ability to not be stressed out.

"I sense too," Akri chimed in, though he had already admitted his ability to detect other telepathic individuals wasn't as good as the alakazam's. "Maybe…there strongest?" Raising one of his small arms, he pointed to the right as they came up on an intersection.

The alakazam concurred with a nod, though Leo noticed something else about his expression not unlike puzzlement.

During the drive, the alakazam (named Hinric by his trainer for some reason Leo couldn't fathom) made the suggestion he could occasionally sense the relative strengths of telepathic abilities around him. As such, they decided that once they arrived, they would drive around in circles in an attempt to triangulate the strongest source, which they assumed would be Kol…if he was still in the area, of course. Filling in Hinric on who and what Kol was, the Pokémon at first expressed apprehension, but quickly realized why he was needed and agreed that such a powerful individual very well could be the strongest source he would ever sense.

What was somewhat surprising was Akri revealing he too could sense other telepathic sources, just not nearly as well since his telepathic powers were apparently limited more or less to moving objects (like stopping swamperts from plunging to their deaths from high cliffs). Still, adding his ability to Hinric's could very well prove necessary and was certainly welcomed.

In the front seat, Naomi was scribbling on a map while George navigated the van around the corner slowly, giving time for multitudes of walking humans to pass in front and around them. It was just pass the worse time of day for driving amid the tall buildings of the city center, that being just pass lunch hour on a weekday. Eventually they made and after another few blocks, the way got easier as they moved away from the city center.

"Sure wish we had time for sight-seeing," Ticonamo lamented as they started passing rows of low houses with occasional shops mixed in. "First time I've been here, or in the Kanto region."

"Yeah, me too," Naomi chimed in. "It's pretty here."

From her reflection in the windshield, Leo could see her expression as calm, but tense.

After a circle around several blocks, it became evident the source Hinric and Akri were sensing was in a large park they were fast approaching according to the map, with Hinric surprised he was sensing the same source over such a long distance. The longer they drove, the more Leo could see the concern on his pointed yellow face.

"Someone who has this much power…I don't know if I can counteract," the alakazam said quietly as they were pulling into a parking lot at the edge of the park. "He has the power of the mythical Dialga _and_ Palkia, you said?"

"Only some of it, but he did defeat both of them at the same time. Don't know exactly how, though. He just made them disappear a year and a half ago."

Hinric stared back with widening slanted eyes; Akri looked more glum than usual while bracing himself against the front seat as the vehicle stopped.

"We'll just have to do our best," Leo added, hoping to sound optimistic. Of course, considering what it took to defeat Kol the first time, he thought they were more underpowered than before. Hopefully Sonya had some impressive reinforcements planned.

"Remember, we have to be careful in finding out if what Hinric is detecting is indeed Kol," Naomi reminded as the three humans in front were unbuckling themselves. Facing back at him and the other Pokémon, "If it is, we call Sonya first, wait for backup, then we make contact."

Leo nodded understanding along with Chalesti, Hinric and Akri, the latter giving a salute, annoyingly demonstrating something he picked up from a war movie the previous night as they were staying in a motel. As much as he seemed to be a Guardian not too unlike Azelf, Mespirt or Uxie, he also seemed to be incredibly impressionable. Just how many years was he by himself anyway, he'd wondered yet one more time while opening the rear doors to hop out, the others following into the warm and not quite comfortable afternoon sun.

And then…now that they were possibly so close, what they were about to do really hit. His heart started beating faster at the memory of the Pokémon-human. Kol. With his power, the hybrid nearly killed him and his human self on Fore-Nine Island. Was he really about to seek that person out for help? Perhaps they should call Sonya and get the backup in right away…

…no. They needed to confirm Kol really was here, and not let anyone know they were looking for him until they actually did find him. But he was scared, and could feel the cold grip of fear surrounding him. Even his gills were feeling congested.

He steeled himself anyway, filling himself with an icy resolve. How he felt didn't matter; for the sake of Blaze, Lonny, Grovyle, Sally and his other self, he needed to do this!

Trying to not to let any of his fear show so the others wouldn't become more nervous then they probably already were, he shut the van's doors as normally as possible before joining George, Naomi and Ticonamo just off the parking lot and on the much softer grass that looked and smelled freshly cut.

Both Hinric and Akri remained by the van for a moment, seemingly sensing the direction with their minds before the alakazam raised a thin arm to point toward a large field and an area of trees beyond. "Perhaps in those trees," he said. "But…" Narrowing his eye ridges, "it's fluctuating…unstable, fading and regaining. As if in chaos. It's been doing that for a while, but getting more so."

Akri stared back at him. "What mean?"

"I've never sensed anything like this; I do not understand it."

Leo translated what the alakazam said as the light blue and green Guardian twisted his tails, displaying some nervousness.

George gave a long sigh. "Let's assume that isn't good," getting a nod from Ticonamo. "So…let's move in a little different direction. If he's watching us, it won't look like we're coming straight for him."

"Great idea," Ticonamo replied. "We should also act as natural as possible, like we're just here for a good time."

"Easy for you to say," George returned. Partly holding out a hand, he revealed he was shaking a little. With fear more evident in his voice, "You know, I don't think I ever said how glad I was I didn't get to go to that island with you, Leo."

"You're welcome," Leo said. He was glad too they made the decision not to get Naomi, Ticonamo and George involved. Who knows how that would have changed the situation…who of them would've gotten hurt…or worse.

"It's not every day we attempt to met up with someone like this, I guess you could still call him a kind of Pokémon, with this much power," George rambled on.

"Not to mention an alien," Ticonamo added.

Looking back, Leo noted Chalesti wearing a half smile around her small mouth.

"Meeting this alien…would be neat. Too bad he wanted to kill you."

"Yes, too bad." Great Garchomp Scales, he still wasn't one hundred percent sure what he was going to say to him…assuming the hybrid would even allow him the chance before trying to kill them all! His heart beat just a little faster yet.

With no other words, they headed out across the grass field that held only a few scattered humans and fewer accompanying Pokémon, leaving the source of whatever Hinric and Akri were sensing to their right as they approached the one end of the stand of trees. The stand covered maybe the size of a small city block, at least from the front, but from having already circled the park once, he knew there was a street and tall fence not far behind.

"How you doing?" George asked Naomi, who hadn't said a word since they left the van.

"Nervous as hell," she replied quietly with an obvious treble, almost trembling in holding her hair back against the slight breeze. "I haven't even met this guy personally, either."

"Neither have George or I," Ticonamo said. Then glancing backward, "In fact, only you Leo have been face-to-face with him."

"Lucky you!" Akri crowed, but quietly.

"If you mean _bad_ luck," Leo retorted, hoping there wasn't any sign of fear in his own voice. _For my friends_, he kept thinking, finding strength in the words. Even so, with each step closer the more fearful he became despite his resolve. Between Akri, Hinric, Chalesti and himself, could they even be half a match for Kol if he spotted and attacked them before Sonya's backup arrived? Did he even have the right to ask them to help fight such a battle?

As they reached the first trees, it seemed his fear was justified as they would likely have a hard time confirming Kol was actually in there, without being seen themselves. Ticonamo apparently was thinking the same thing in suggesting they simply call Sonya right then and there. He felt some relief as Naomi readily agreed and was taking her cell out of a pocket...just before Hinric tensed.

"It's approaching."

His heart leaping, he relayed then Pokémon's warning as the sound of someone moving through the brush to their right got their attention.

"You!" roared the source, revealing itself from behind a tall bush amid the trees as a tall, thin figure with long white hair and a light, boyish complexion...

"K…Kol," Leo stammered, almost unable to get the name out with his heart pounding in his white-skinned chest. Someone's hand, Akri's, was quickly on one of his head fins as Naomi, George and Ticonamo all started backing up.

"I'll try and protect you," Hinric shouted as he stepped in front, putting his yellow form mostly between him and Kol.

But almost immediately Leo realized Kol looked…different. In fact, he looked fairly bad off. His pale skin was shinny, sweaty, his clothes were dirty and torn, he looked nearly ready to pass out, obviously unsteady on his feet. Yet the Pokémon-human managed to raise an arm to point straight at him.

"You…caused everything, damned swampert…and I'm taking you with me!" Kol's hand immediately began glowing with a purplish light….

"Run!" George screamed with panic-filled voice, apparently not having to tell Ticonamo twice as the humans men took off.

Naomi seemed frozen to the spot….

But releasing a Roar of Time attack, from having seen Kol do it already, took a few seconds…and the hybrid looked to be really struggling with it this time, as the ball of luminous energy seemed to not be growing fast. Maybe they had time! "Charge!" Yelling while putting his head down, he leapt forward with adrenaline-fueled strength, hand glowing with Focus Punch energy. A side-ways glance showed Hinric putting his hands to his head in starting some type of physic attack while Akri charged forward beside him.

Kol's face expressed surprise when he started to float just a bare foot off the ground, his hand losing its glow…

Closing the few leaps to the Pokémon-human, Leo landed his glowing fist to Kol's stomach with immediate effect. With obvious physic assist, the hybrid flew backward, slamming backward through a bush and into a tree, where he fell quickly to the leaf-littered ground in a heap.

He almost couldn't believe what he just did as he stood, shaking from both adrenaline and exertion of using energy. For a moment, he just watched his old adversary as Hinric came alongside.

"He's not moving," the alakazam observed. "Is he really that easy to defeat? I sensed such a strong power…"

"He not well," Akri stated, partly sounding as a question as he lowered himself down while approaching the hybrid.

Akri could be right, Leo guessed. "He definitely doesn't look the same as the last time I saw him. Even after Blaze's beating."

"…but there's…something odd…"

Facing the yellow physic Pokémon, "What's odd?"

"…there's… I think he's…fading? Like two of them, one weak, the other getting stronger."

Leo noticed Akri's face was mirroring his own confusion. "What do you mean by there's two of them?"

"Wow, you guys are incredible!" Ticonamo exclaimed, arriving with George to look down at the unconscious Kol, though at a several-foot distance.

"Sure he's out?" George asked.

"Maybe…we better call Sonya now," Naomi said, the cell still in her shaking, white-knuckled hand.

* * *

Kol gradually became somewhat aware of things around him. Became aware of pain in his head and back, aware of voices around him, becoming higher pitched…excited, aware he felt bound. And…disorientated.

Where was he?

He was moving? Opening his eyes a crack, there was a roof over him…a vehicle roof. There were faces around. Some Pokémon, some human. The swampert was familiar. The humans had weapons.

He was too tired to care.

As he laid on the floor, enduring the occasional bumps and vibration that proved the vehicle was moving fast, he realized something was very different.

Clarity. And freedom.

As if he'd been through a long night and it's nightmare, he felt released.

Taking in a long breath, he let it out and allowed his eyes to close. Finally it felt like he could rest peacefully. For the first time in…eight years? Or had it been longer?

Probably didn't matter. Feeling himself fall closer to sleep, he knew at some point he'd need to explain...a few things. Especially to the swampert and his human counterpart…and maybe…their friends…

…and maybe…they would help him…

* * *

Leo observed Kol fade back out of consciousness, as did the two policeman flanking him in the rear of the van. It really was crowded now with them, and he had to nearly plaster himself into the corner between the front seat and the side, right behind Ticonamo. If George hadn't the foresight to rent a large van like he did, it'd have been far worse. Still, he had make sure his spiky gills didn't keep jabbing Ticonamo in the back of his head, and his bent rear fin was complaining plenty. And then there was the smell from the hybrid, who obviously hadn't had a bath for some time. That and the condition of his clothes just drove home the fact the man was in a bad way. Even so, he wasn't about to let down his guard.

Fortunately Sonya had been good on her word, sending four off-duty policepersons on a moment's notice. Suspiciously quick, actually. With two in the van, the other two were escorting them "quietly" in an unmarked car according to George (whatever that meant), leading the long way back to Pinnacle Valley. They were trying to keep their capture of Kol silent, though he wondered if all of this had been noticed by certain "agents" that had been mentioned more than once. Perhaps…one of them here was one of them.…

He sighed. Perhaps this was another instance he was glad to be a Pokémon and could simply decide human matters were strictly human matters. So long as nobody tried to stop him with his exclusive duty of convincing Kol to help him.

"What do you sense now?" asking Hinric, who was nearly likewise plastered against the rear doors with Chalesti opposite him, in human speech. At least Akri could float, which he was doing very near one of the policemen and irritating him with one of his tails; the man gave a swat with his hand, eliciting a giggle from the Guardian.

The yellow and brown physic Pokémon seemed to slowly emerge from a restful state after a moment, his long mustache twitching. Finally looking up, "He's stronger, steady. No chaos. No division. Calm."

Both policemen looked to him for a translation, as did Ticonamo and Naomi from the front seat. "He said Kol's calm and there's no chaos or division."

"Division?" the other policeman who wasn't being irritated by Akri asked. "Like dual personalities or something?"

Hinric shrugged. "I don't know. I can't put the feeling into words. I can only describe it like two senses of him were conflicting, perhaps fighting. But I sense only stability from this person now. All normal beings should be stable. Anything else is not normal, and is not something I've never sensed before." Pointing down to Kol, "What was going on in his mind was very unusual."

Leo again translated got worried or puzzled stares. Akri seemed to just smile as he lowered himself on top of the one policeman's head.

"Hey!" the man in dark blue protested while pushing the Pokémon off. "Cut that out!"

Akri grimaced. "I tired of floating. Need rest."

By the time they arrived at a motel the escort car lead them to a couple hours later, it was evening and Akri got some of his needed rest by laying on Naomi's lap in the front. For himself, he had to wait as everyone else piled out (save for the policemen guarding Kol) before leaving the confining vehicle. Oh…did his large rear fin hurt! Not to mention being stiff. Once standing on the asphalt parking lot in the welcomed fresh air, he reached behind to help his fin straighten out more, grimacing as the sharp pain came and went along his spine.

"Sonya."

Ticonamo's surprised greeting got his attention, and together with everyone else, Leo stood in a circle around her after she left her own parked car nearby.

"Hello everyone," she returned with only a faint smile. "You have him?"

"Kol is secured in there ma'am," the only policewoman replied, pointing to the back of the van. "He's still unconscious."

"But came to briefly," the last policeman added.

"Very good job finding and catching him," Sonya said. After a long glance to Leo, "None of you are hurt?"

Leo shook his head as everyone answered negatively. "Wasn't even much of a fight," he added. "We knocked him out pretty easily. I wasn't expecting that."

"That is…surprising," the Asian woman replied, with glance to the partly open van doors.

"But he really didn't look well," Naomi added. "Like he was already sick or something."

"Yeah, this alakazam said his mental state was…ah, weird," George provided. "Sorry, that's not very technical."

"Divided and in chaos was how it actually put it, according to Leo," Ticonamo said.

Sonya narrowed her thin eyebrows a little. "Really?" Turning to Leo: "I assume you haven't been able to talk to him yet?"

Leo shook his head again. It hadn't really struck him before, but something about the way she was talking and in her gestures, gave him the sense she held real authority beside simply being on the Oversight Committee. Which made him all the more glad she was a friend.

"Too bad," she sighed. "Well, there's a few things I should tell you now that we have Kol in custody and things are moving quickly now. Richard, Carmen, help Hirito and Allen guard our...guest."

The police man and woman gave salutes before taking positions on either side of the van doors.

Akri also gave a salute with a giggle while Sonya started leading them over to her own car, away from all other vehicles in the lot.

Silly creature, Leo thought about Akri. But his own assessment that Sonya was more than he thought was only being reinforced. Such a gesture by humans he'd only seen in war movies. Although it was never really explained, he figured out it was a sign of respect in formal human organizations, usually those with great authority. Certainly his own few human memories held no recognition of it.

"What is this going to be about?" George asked quietly. "I thought we were going to drive straight through the night."

"We need to plan to get Kol into the lab first?" Naomi suggested, shrugging.

"But I need to talk to Kol first," Leo reminded. Indeed, unless Kol agreed to help, there was no way they could let him anywhere near the university's Dimensional Gate!

"Partly," Sonya answered in turning around. After looking the area over as if checking they were alone and far away from anyone, she pulled out a small card from her coat pocket and it held out.

With the others, Leo leaned in to have a look at the wallet-sized card showing Sonya's head along with some identification info. But it was the bold letters across the top that caught his eye first.

"International Police?" George exclaimed.

"You're with the International Police?" Naomi gasped.

Ticonamo stared for a moment. "Someone from that agency was on the Oversight Committee the whole time?"

"Yes," Sonya answered. "Undercover, so neither Bill nor Basil knows. A little politics was played to get me in, but it was felt by the powers that be that the IP's presence was necessary. My first task was to protect the gate from Kol. Secondly, I was to gather any intelligence about him that could lead to his capture. As you can image, having an actual alien on this planet, and further one who's part Pokémon with powerful abilities, bears careful watching...and study."

"Taking over Derganio Corporation, blowing up an entire island and killing our professor had something to do with it I'm guessing," Ticonamo added almost sarcastically.

The older oriental woman nodded. "However, we concluded early on that keeping locked up someone with Dialga's and Palkia's powers…or at least some of their powers..." Giving a smile to Leo, "…would be beyond our means. Even apprehending him looked to be exceedingly dangerous. So we had to settle for watching him. Which wasn't easy; several times we lost track of him. Although it did puzzle us why he wasn't making any attempts to get to the dimensional gate, or even to reorganize."

"But you knew most of the time where he was?" Naomi asked.

"Yes. Sorry, I didn't have to pull in any favors to get the info, but I couldn't tell you the truth a couple days ago. But now that we have him, we've sort of forced…" She paused, as if deciding not to say something. Then: "Without being able to keep him imprisoned, and of course we aren't willing to execute him unless we're forced to, the only other thing we can to do to protect this world is to get him off this planet. Leo, your desire to take him to your Poké world presents that opportunity."

"You could have done that anyway at any time," George pointed out. "The gate's been working for over six months."

"It would have been wrong without permission to send a dangerous individual like that. And it would have put both Leo's, Sally, and that courageous Blaze and Grovyle in grave danger. As well as all the other Pokémon there who have built their own civilization."

"My friends are probably in grave danger now anyway," Leo reminded.

Sonya nodded. "You gave us good reason to finally attempt to apprehend Kol. Thank God you succeeded. And if you can truly convince this...man to cooperate with you, then bringing him into the lab is feasible and my last objection to letting him through the gate is moot. We will then both get what we need: we get him off this planet, and you get your help to try and rescue your friends and your other self. And also…perhaps finally this planet can now repay the debt it owes to you, Sally, and everyone else who helped stopped Kol last year. At least in part."

Leo nodded, truly admiring the integrity of this human. "Then the only thing left is…"

"Ma'am!"

He turned with everyone else as one of the policeman came running up. "He's awake!"

* * *

"I mean, Ruby _really_ seems to like you. I've never seen a Pokémon cling so much to someone in that manner. Even Grovyle doesn't cuddle up to you like that."

_Grovyle is male_, Leo thought both glumly and fearfully while using his hands to splash water over his head to get his hair soaked. Being morning, they were again bathing in the river in the glow of the early morning sun. It felt both good to get the grim off and cold, since the daytime heating hadn't yet started. Which actually felt doubly good considering when he woke up perhaps a half-hour before, Ruby again had half her hairy body planted on top of his, making him sweat from not just the insulation, but her higher body temperature. Unlike the previous morning though, Sally woke up first and saw it. He wouldn't have felt as bad about it before, but after last evening's little event….

"She kissed me. When we went out looking for food with Lonny." He braced himself as his mate froze. Only…it wasn't anger on her face. More like….

Sally burst out laughing. "She…what? Oh, how sweet!"

Alright, it was obvious his wife thought it along the lines of like a sister giving her big brother a quick peek on the cheek. "Sally, dear, it was more like…" Well, no better way than to demonstrate! Closing the two steps to her, he embraced her naked form in a long, passionate kiss while moving his hands to caress the back of her head. All of the sudden he didn't want to, but he finally parted with her, leaving her with a open mouth and eyes closed.

"Oh…don't stop now," she said softly, releasing her grip on his shoulder only hesitantly.

He sighed. Boy was he tempted to keep going; if only he'd told the others they needed a long while for this morning's bath! "It was like _that_, only she was the one doing all the kissing. I was more in shock."

Sally opened her eyes and coughed once. "Really?"

"She said she was thanking me for saving her life, but I think she more than just likes me and I don't know how to handle it."

"It was _really_ like that? I never heard of a Pokémon actually, uh, you know, kissing a human _that_ way. On the lips and all. But it's kind of cute."

"Yeah, well…when I reminded her you were my wife, she…" Oh boy. "…uh…said I was allowed _two_ mates. I'm pretty sure she was implying _she_ was to be the second."

Sally lost her smile as her eyes widened. Then: "Oh come on Leo. You act like she's using that…what's that move Pokémon use to attract the opposite sex?"

"Attract? No, she's not using that! I don't think. No, she's just…she's acting like a _woman_." He watched his long red-haired mate pick up her wash cloth out of the water to start washing herself down over her shoulders, neck and upper chest, remaining silent for the moment. Did she not believe him? Ruby's intentions seemed clear last night, but his wife's reaction was really starting to make him question his conclusion!

Finally: "Leo, Pokémon don't fall in love with humans, not like that. Do they?"

OK, now she didn't sound so sure. "Not that I've ever heard about," as he started his own washing routine.

"Hold on…" she said, stopping for a second. "We _are_ on a different planet. Humans and Pokémon maybe evolved a little differently here; in fact, it's likely they did. Maybe what she's doing is just…something the two do here?"

Some of the implications about them being on a different world, he did sometimes forget about. But if what Sally was claiming was true…. "Then it makes me wonder what _else_ they do together." He said it without really thinking, but found his wife with a wry smile. "Or maybe, since she said she was raised as a human…." After a few heartbeats and locked eyes: "Maybe we're jumping to too many conclusions, based on just a kiss…but that was a _heck_ of a kiss." Still smiling, she leaned closer, putting her forehead nearly to his. Almost whispering, "You know, we could yell to them we want to be alone for a little while."

He stared down at his naked thirty-something year-old mate for only a second. Alright, since his mind was already on the subject and seemingly not moving off it….

A loud, horrendous shriek pierced the air; in heart-pounding shock, he saw a golden skarmory leaving a large tree on the far bank in a flurry of hard wing beats, practically braking the entire tree in doing so. Quickly crouching down with Sally in the hip-deep water, he kept her close as the bird come not right at them, but darn close. Halfway, it made a sharp turn and that's when the other bird came into view: a staraptor, coming fast at them down low, barely above the water!

The skarmory dove while the staraptor rose, the two colliding above in combat perhaps a dozen meters from them…and moving toward them!

"Clothes!" Sally shrieked, grabbing his arm and yanking him to the bank, where they only just grabbed their garments from the branch they hung from before the battling birds passed over where they had just been, exchanging blows of glowing wings and more ear-piercing screams.

"What's going on?" Lonny yelled, arriving on the bank with everyone else seconds later.

"A skarmory and staraptor are battling right here!" Sally yelled back, voice high with obvious fear.

From behind the nearest bushes, Leo dressed with her as quickly as wet skin allowed. Unfortunately the hastily chosen shrubs weren't as concealing as he'd liked; he was certain Ruby saw something. But most attention was on the battling birds as they first soared into the sky, then came swooping back down practically on top of them in a flurry of squawks, shrill screams, and flying claws, forcing all of them to duck.

Blaze started yipping, apparently supported by Grovyle's squawks as they each took defensive stances while looking up and backing away from the bank. With the birds so close, it occurred to him Grovyle was small enough to make a nice snack for either of the birds. Perhaps even Blaze or Ruby too!

"Hurry and finish!" Lonny yelled, holding her spear point just above her head as she crouched.

"We're trying!" Leo hissed as the battle nearly came overhead yet again, this time causing branches to fall as the birds crashed through the upper canopy. Water and clothes just didn't mix well, but he finally got everything on as did Sally, and hurried just behind Blaze as they left the river bank, quickly grabbed their packs, and then didn't stop running until they'd gone at least a good mile through the jungle. Even after, they could still hear the continuing screeches behind them. At least the going through the forest became the easiest they'd had in days, with the trees and vegetation seemingly thinning out some. Not to say running through any kind of forest was easy!

Panting and sweating, he finally planted his back against a tree, Sally next to him…and Ruby on the other side. Blaze parked himself on the ground in front of him with Grovyle and Lonny choosing the next closest tree opposite, both huffing as well as any of them.

Sally spoke first while struggling for breath: "Lonny…did either…of those Pokémon… say anything?"

The former swampert shook her finned head before bracing a hand on one knee, using her spear as support for the other. "The skarmory only said…something about…not belonging here. Then…they just fought." After another half-moment: "Damn...I need an oran berry!"

"They don't work on humans," Leo informed between breaths.

"I know!" she nearly yelled back. "Still want one!"

Ruby seemed to ask something, earning an angry glare from the former swampert.

After a few moments, Leo finally just decided to sit after his breathing and heart rate calmed some. Another thing that calmed down was the sound of the fighting. It was now absent, replaced by the normal jungle sounds of insects, leaves rustling above in the upper canopy, and occasional calls of animals and Pokémon in the distance they'd grown accustomed to over the last several days. "Any bets that was the same skarmory we saw yesterday?"

"It looked just as big," Sally replied.

"It was the same one," Lonny answered, Grovyle and Blaze nodding in response.

Blaze yipped something else, Lonny translating as "He thinks that bird is following us."

Which wasn't a hard conclusion to draw. Many Pokémon tended to be territorial, skarmorys known to be among the worst of them. But if it was following them, it's territory had to be huge!

"So it's interested in us then," Sally furthered. "Next question is why? If it wanted to attack us humans, as Ruby says that Pokémon here do, wouldn't it have done so by now? It looked more interested in that staraptor."

"I wonder if that staraptor was one who was trying to attack us," Leo added. "It did look like it was coming right for us before the skarmory apparently spotted it."

Grovyle was next to voice something while fingering one of his wrist blades.

Again translated by Lonny: "Grovyle thinks its behavior suggests it's curious and not hostile." After Grovyle continued, "And he wonders if the fight it engaged in was to protect us, if the staraptor looked like it was going to attack. But what it said before attacking the staraptor suggests territoriality."

"Or…could have been a way of telling it to leave us alone?" Sally asked, more in a tone of only to herself.

Grovyle nodded anyway.

"Well, anyone want to go back and ask it?" Lonny asked, moving her hands to her hips. Without waiting for an answer: "This is not the way I like waking up in the morning. Christina always refused early-morning battles too."

"You mean you _don't_ like running for your life this early?" Leo teased. The wait wasn't long and he swore, if she still had been a swampert, he'd be getting hit by a water pulse at that moment, judging from her look!

Ruby was the first to get back up, seemingly looking up at the sky, then all around them. "He he, in bra nacee infra 'hr sä n'frepa. Raha si charam..."

Which got all the Pokémon's attention as the female infernape continued to speak.

It certainly perked Lonny up. "She said we shouldn't far from her village anymore. We're moving out of the jungle; it'll soon be other trees that need less water and then farmland that her village keeps cleared of trees. Once we see that, we're there!"

Now that it was mentioned, the air had been less humid recently. And looking up at the sky, it was apparent the river had been running more south-southwest, since they'd essentially been moving around the southern area of the mountains, he suspected.

"I'm all for a drier environment at this point," Sally commented. "Come on, let's get going," getting nods from everyone.

Including from Lonny, who even as mostly human now, had seemingly been preferring more moisture rather than less up to then.

* * *

Kol sat up...slowly. Mindful of the guns leveled at him from either side and from outside the van's back doors, he looked himself over. Over eight years before, he remembered hoping this day would come. It had been not unlike living in a dream, on the outside looking in at what he was doing, his real self suppressed. Perhaps the injuries he'd sustained in the displacement explosion of Fore-Nine Island caused everything that'd been done to him so long ago to start unraveling…to be finally cast off by the attack from a swampert, alakazam, and…

…did he see some odd floating Pokémon earlier?

Whatever. He needed to return to his own planet, now that he was finally who he really was again. But there was some questions first. Why was he captured and why now? They had to have known where he was for quite some time.

Facing each of the three guards, dressed in the dark blue of police, he was about to ask where the swampert was when the face of a older black-haired Asian woman appeared through the open door.

"You're finally awake," she said in a quiet, neutral tone.

"Apparently," Kol replied cautiously, increasing conscious of the guns aimed at him. Sure, he could make a battle of it, but there was no way he could get all of them before he'd have a few new holes. Fortunately for all of them he had no desire to hurt anyone there. If anything, the planet was nearly the victim of what he was before he regained himself.

Deciding to play dumb for the moment: "Why did you capture me? Am I being arrested?" carefully tilting his head toward one of the two policeman flanking him in the back of the large van.

"Well, that depends," the woman replied like someone in authority, before a familiar blue swampert face came in view through the open doors.

So, it sounded like he would need to play his cards carefully, to borrow the local human's expression.

* * *

Rubbing one of his gills, Leo sure didn't feel comfortable greeting the person who, a year and a half before, tried to kill him and his human counterpart in basically attempting to take over the world, and eventually the Poké world too by letting more of his kind through a dimensional portal between his world and Earth.

Still: "Hello, Kol." He certainly wasn't going to add _nice to see you again_ to that! Although, unfortunately, he was glad, if only because he was forced to be. Yet it was immediately apparent to him the human-Pokémon seemed different. There was something…less menacing about him, that he couldn't put into words. Maybe it was the fact he was surrounded by gun-toting police humans.…

Kol half smiled. "Hello. I guess I never thought I'd see you again."

_Probably didn't figure I and the others would make it off the island_, Leo thought bitterly. With the others gathered behind him, he moved more in as Sonya moved herself out of the way, yielding him the opportunity to better discuss quietly what needed to be discussed. Taking a moment to get his emotions under control, "You were pretty quick to attack us back in the park." Although Kol really did seem not well there…almost like a crazy Pokémon. Now his manner was entirely different! Probably biding his time, so before any mistakes could be made, he needed to get to the point quickly.

"Yes. Sorry about that. I wasn't myself." Glancing to one of the policeman beside him, "At the risk of sounding like a liar, everything that I did before…I am sorry about. I truly was not acting normally."

"You seemed rather bent on conquering this planet," George said angrily. "Now you just say, 'I'm sorry'?"

"George," Leo whispered. This wasn't the time to get the man angry!

"Yes I am," Kol repeated with a bit more meaning. Slowly, he brushed back some of the dirty, long white hair that covered one shoulder. "But first, I get the feeling there's something you want from me. Other than revenge."

Leo felt a tingle about his fins as Kol seemed to read the situation perfectly. Glancing to Sonya, he saw her give a nod. Having already decided to keep it as short as possible: "Yes. To keep it simple, I need your help."

Kol raised his eyebrows, but otherwise didn't respond.

Except…was that a slight smile? Trying to keep himself calm in continuing: "On the Poké world, there's a portal that took many of friends through it. It's activated by using a lot of power…" Glancing to Akri who was floating over his head, he saw the Guardian nod several times, though his eyes remained fixed on the Pokémon-human. "Since Dialga and Palkia aren't _around_ any more…" saying it with dripping emphasis, to which Kol gave a satisfying grimace, "…you are the next choice for being able to activate it."

The boyish features of Kol's face turned to surprise…and perhaps bemusement. "So…you want to take me to your Poké world and activate this portal for you?"

"Yes," Leo replied simply after a breath nearly caught in his throat. At least the hybrid understood quickly enough. Of course, his intelligence was never in question!

"I see. In exchange for what?"

"Your life," Sonya interjected promptly, stepping closer again. "Also to keep it simple, we want you off this planet. So either you go and help Leo, or there could be...an accidental International Police shooting."

"International Police," Kol said thoughtfully. Then sighing, "As it so happens, I want off this planet too. But not to that Poké world; I want to return to my own planet. I have eight years worth of things to sort out."

For whatever reason, Leo noticed his face hardened as he said that. His tone conveyed some anger as well, intentional or not.

"What, so you can mount an invasion?" Sonya shot back. "Look, Leo is offering to give you a home on his world, as risky as it is for everyone there, in exchange for you helping him…"

Kol raised a quick hand, causing an equally quick steadying of weapons around him. "You'll really give me a home?"

Leo nodded, somewhat hesitantly. "All I ask is don't hurt anyone and don't try to take over anything."

"Well then, you must need me to open that portal pretty badly," Kol replied. After a pause: "You really think I can open it, and _no_ one else can?"

"You have enough energy," Akri said, lowering himself in front. "I feel it. Know it."

The former head of Derganio stared back at the Guardian, and for just a brief instant, confusion raced across his face as his eyes locked with the Azelf-like Pokémon. After: "It must take a lot of power, then."

"It take lots," Akri returned, his tails slightly winding themselves.

Facing Leo again: "Maybe we can help each other then," Kol said. "I open that portal for you, and you get me back to my world with the University's dimensional gate you'll be using to get me to the Poké world. I assume that has to be the method of travel we're…"

Sonya slammed her small fist against the door, making it bang loudly. "Hey, I said that's not going to happen, mister! We're offering you a deal to spare your life, and you're trying to bargain yet?"

Kol closed his eyes, seemingly trying to decide something. After a moment: "Maybe I should explain what's really been happening. I'm not who you think I am."

"How's that?" Naomi asked with an edge to her voice. "You're the one who tried to kill Leo here and everyone else, and actually did succeed with Mr. Werner!"

"Don't forget Dialga and Palkia," Leo added with a glare. In fact, now that he was reminded, he felt suddenly tempted to beat out of him exactly what happened to them!

"Yes…I did do that," Kol replied with a sharp frown, leaning back on his arms. "But it wasn't by choice, at least not my choice."

"So now you're trying to say you were forced to do all that?" Ticonamo piped in.

Kol sighed. "In a manner of speaking. Yes, I did do those things, but I wasn't a willing participant…"

"What in the depths of Dark Crater you mean?" Leo asked pointedly, becoming increasingly angry at this creature who had caused everyone so much trouble!

Narrowing his pale eyes, the Pokémon-human briefly faced everyone in turn. "I mean I was as much a victim as the rest of you! You want me to take all the blame, fine. You need me to help you as way of repayment? Fine. But I was subjected to the most intense mental tortures you could imagine, or brain-washing as your world's terminology puts it. On my world, I was resisting those who were in power, who were other part-Pokémon, part-humans like me, to help a small group of pure humans overthrow them. Those in power were bastards, treating humans as pawns. I had the morals and guts to stand up to them before they captured me. Then one general thought it would be _fun_ to use the combined mental powers of several to wipe my mind and turn me against those I was trying to help. Well, they did their work all too well! Then a particular dimensional portal was detected and I was sent through, I suspect because I was expendable and they wanted to just plain get rid of me. Killing me would've taken all the fun out of it, naturally. But today that conditioning finally broke. Only took _eight damned years!_"

Leo didn't lessen his glare any in feeling partly taken aback by what he said. But it sounded to too outlandish to believe! Surely this criminal was just trying to evade responsibility! Although the Pokémon-human was shaking...with anger? "Likely story," he finally said.

"Leo, I had a chance to kill you and your friends in the control room on the island," Kol continued, a bit calmer. "But I gave you a chance instead. Even through all the conditioning and false memories imposed on me, there was still a part that didn't want to harm you. It may not have come out like that, but the offer I made was due to that. The only ones I wish to harm right now, are those of my own kind who have no respect for anyone else. And they're back on my own world."

Beside him, Sonya turned her back to Kol, shaking her head. "I don't believe this crap. Believing you're from another world is already hard enough. If it wasn't for knowing about the Poké world and seeing for myself the dimensional gate working, I wouldn't buy even that!"

"Liar," George added from behind. "How the heck can we ever trust this guy?"

Leo wanted to agree with the researcher wholeheartedly. Unfortunately he still needed the man's help! Didn't mean he had to go easy on him though. "If you didn't wish any harm, then what did you do to Dialga and Palkia? Did you kill them?" It was hard, but he resisted the urge to jump in and land a few Focus Punches on him!

"I didn't kill them," Kol replied, almost angrily again. "Dealing with them actually was the primary reason I was sent here. This world obviously had dimensional technology. It was thought such technology could be used to lure Palkia at a minimum, and perhaps Dialga too. Neither of them had visited my world in generations, so…"

"For what reason?" Sonya asked sharply in whipping around.

"I was to send them somewhere on my world. I wasn't not told why. General Enpersen gave me the order to do whatever it took to lure them to me, then use my dimensional abilities to send them there. It's not hard to guess it's part of some larger plan, but again, I wasn't told anything more, and frankly, and I was not exactly in a frame of mind to ask at the time."

"So to trap and capture Dialga and Palkia was the entire point of everything you did?" Leo growled. But…then…did that mean they were still alive?

"Then what was that second gate for?" Ticonamo asked.

Kol huffed. "That was my own idea. Since I had accidentally destroyed the prototype gate Derganio had used to bring me here eight years ago, I was trying to impress the others of my kind by allowing them to come here. The University's gate would have been too difficult to use for such...and it was needed for luring Palkia anyway." Closing his eyes: "Stupid, wasn't it?"

"Are Dialga and Palkia still alive?" Leo asked slowly. "Are they safe?"

Kol shrugged. "I don't know. I surmise if the General had wanted them dead, he would have had me do that instead of sending somewhere on my world. Although…battling them both to the death at the same time probably would have been beyond my power. Forming a dimensional bubble strong enough that Palkia couldn't escape from was easier by comparison. Even then, I didn't have the strength to send them the entire way, others of my kind were supposed to be in a position to..."

"How can I believe anything you're saying?" Leo retorted. "I think most likely, you dreamed up this entire story to try and get us to let you go!"

"You can choose to believe me or not," Kol shot back. "Obviously there's nothing I can do or say to convince you, as I have no proof. At least not on _this_ world."

Turning to Sonya, Leo watched her grimace in facing back.

"Well, my dear swampert, I'm going to still leave this up to you to decide whether you can trust him enough to help you. But if you get him to the Poké world, the risk is entirely yours at that point. We won't be able to provide any more support."

Feeling a hand on his back, he sensed Naomi lean in close. "If you think he will help, we will send him through the gate."

George and Ticonamo also gave solemn nods.

"I will help however I can," Chalesti added.

But it was quite obvious everyone had serious doubts. Including himself. "And what kind of damage will you work on the Poké world once you get there?" he asked bluntly.

Kol sighed loudly. "None, although it sounds like you won't believe it."

"Maybe…" He didn't want to say it, and it hurt his heart greatly, "…I have to sacrifice my friends to protect the world. If the price of trying to save them is that high…." He was looking down, but saw the light blue tails of Akri float in front of him. Looking back up, he found the Guardian tilting his head while being completely focused on Kol for several moments.

Then quickly whirling about to face him: "He speaks true. He not lie."

Leo knew his eyes were going wide. "How do you know? You have the ability to know if someone is telling the truth?"

With a smile spreading across his small, Azelf-like face, the Guardian shrugged slightly. "Just know, he he. This person…human…Pokémon…he tells truth. He will help!"


	15. Chapter 15: Sacrifice

_Thanks _Something dictionary related _for your recent comment!_

_One thought I had when I started editing this chapter, was that the first scene would have been better if I had put it at the end of the previous chapter. Would have made a better cliff-hanger. In any further edits or postings of this story, I think I'll probably make that change. What do you guys and gals think?_

_BTW, any other comments, suggestions, reviews, etc. are welcomed!_

* * *

**Chapter XV: Sacrifice**

It was clear into the next day and darn near noon, or so the high overhead sun indicated, before they felt they were far enough away from yesterday's skarmory-staraptor battle to return to the river…and to not be followed by the golden skarmory anymore. After some long-delayed baths, it was time to find food again. For once, Leo Hanson was looking forward to the necessary chore. More specifically, it was the part about getting away from Ruby for a while! She was sticking to him like glue and acting in a matter that left little doubt about how she felt about him.

To the point that he was getting uncomfortable. If only she had clearly seen one of the others rescuing her instead of just him! Yes, Ruby was cute and pretty…perhaps attractive even by human standards, and ordinarily he'd be flattered to have a female giving him such attention. But one, he considered himself married and two, Ruby was an infernape. Two facts that apparently didn't bother her one bit!

Sally was finally paying particular notice to all this, though wasn't really doing anything yet.

Blaze also seemed to be taking serious note, at least as well as he could judge the male infernape's expression, manner and actions. Grovyle in contrast, seemed to be doing his best to ignore it, ditto with Lonny, though he knew his old green friend was keeping tabs; little escaped his notice. If things turned threatening, he'd be the first to jump to his aid…likely followed in an instant by Blaze, he strongly suspected.

"Guy's time to do the hunting and gathering," Leo said to the females, Pokémon, human and in-between, before turning to Blaze and Grovyle. "Come on guys, let's find something to eat around here. The ladies can relax here at the river for a while." He heard Ruby's voice giggle behind them before sounds of someone struggling. Glancing back, both Sally and Lonny had firm grips on her arms. He felt relieved once they got some distance, Blaze mirroring the same emotion in a toned yip and relaxed brow ridge.

"Got to admit, I've never had a Pokémon treat me quite like that," speaking to both Pokémon, hoping to make a little light of the situation.

Grovyle seemed to be smiling suddenly at that, more so after drawing the outline of a certain Pokémon in the air as they walked.

Oh…now that he was reminded, there was that one bayleef he had back in his trainer days. But that female's love was pure puppy-love, which was fairly typical; not anything close to what Ruby was exhibiting! Noticing Blaze looking between him and Grovyle, "Just a Pokémon I once had long ago who showed some natural affection for her trainer…from time to time."

"Infra na he he?"

Grovyle replied, which seemed to satisfy the infernape before Blaze quickly trotted ahead to certain bush to give a chipper-sounding yip. They picked the now familiar berries it held before moving on, gaining a handful for everyone.

It was hard not noticing Blaze's spirits were up all of a sudden. He suspected why. Ever since Ruby came out of her unconsciousness, she had the effect of keeping Blaze away from him. He knew Blaze thought of him as a substitute for the swampert Leo and he felt bad that, however unintentional, Ruby was pushing the male infernape to the sidelines.

That was the second reason for this little "guy's time": to allow Blaze to be close around him once again. It also wasn't lost on him that with Grovyle present, they were simulating the group Blaze was part of that prevented the destruction of Temporal Tower and saved the worlds, and closer to the one where the three of them were going on missions again later.

There was even a bit of a gleeful smile on the infernape's white hair-framed red face as he stopped to point up at some vines that looked to have grapes far up. It was a peculiar look, one of happiness…tinged with sorrow as Grovyle scrambled up the adjacent tree to pluck the fruit.

Of course he wasn't the Leo that had been Blaze's partner, nor was Grovyle the grovyle from the Future That No Longer Exists. But it was as close to being either of those trios as the poor guy was ever going to get. And it could have been a whole lot worse…

…which it still might get as Grovyle suddenly pointed down to a spot very near them, right as a large greenish-brown head and attached red-spotted body rose up from behind some low bushes and a large flower. In moving, it revealed it was actually _part_ of the flower!

Fixing red eyes on both him and Blaze, it didn't move as if transfixed while Grovyle scrambled back down, putting himself next to Blaze as they both stood in front.

The venusaur-like creature seem to lose its apparent surprise; unlike all other Pokémon they had encountered on the planet (excepting the golden skarmory), it snorted loudly like a bull and started moving its large head side to head as if preparing to charge.

Grabbing his hand between his claws, Grovyle started tugging and Leo didn't resist in retreating quickly, Blaze holding his ground while speaking to the venusaur, purple hands up in an obvious effort to calm.

The Pokémon returned a bark in taking some quick steps forward, stopping as Blaze huffed small flames from his mouth. With a backward hand, the infernape motioned them to keep retreating while backing up himself, red tail arched up and tense.

After a few paces, Grovyle broke them into full run with the grass-type quickly giving a full speed, though short-lived chase as Blaze let loose a powerful flamethrower that almost set a tree on fire!

Then they stood watching to be sure the large Pokémon wasn't going to follow them back to the river. Certainly Blaze could of done some serious hurt to the grass-type with a direct hit, but this one was colored differently and perhaps might not have been strictly a grass-type. Perhaps it even had resistance to fire. Besides, going around making (more) enemies with the local Pokémon wasn't the best thing to do on a unfamiliar world, even if Ruby did indicate all of them wanted to do them harm.

There was another reason to retreat, though. Ruby's story had a large number of Pokémon attacking her town not long ago. Since they were getting closer to her town, they might start encountering some of them!

"You OK?" Sally asked with real concern in her tone once they returned and he told her and Lonny what happened.

"We're fine; we didn't get touched thanks to Blaze. But I think we better be increasingly on guard going forward, though."

There were the expected nods from everyone. All except for Ruby.

"She's over there," his wife said, pointing up the bank before taking the food bag which really didn't have much thanks to their shortened forging. "Been there for a little while, not doing anything," question in her voice now.

Standing nearly knee-deep in the water not far away, Ruby was at the widest part of a bend in the river near their forested bank, facing downstream with her back to them and motionless, save for the tip of her tail skimming the water flowing around her white-haired calves.

To Lonny: "Is she alright?" Leo asked, barely looking down at her in watching the female infernape. Something looked to be bothering her.

The former swampert shrugged from her spot on the bank, almost indifferently. "She hasn't said anything." Sighing, she moved her light blue human feet amid the short, yellow-flowered reeds that were growing through the shallowest water, making subtle splashes. "I guess you want to talk to her," speaking with a "I'm not surprised" tone as she started getting up with a heave.

Ruby turned as they approached and he had to stare for a heartbeat. She had obviously bathed after he had left to find food; obviously, because her fine red and yellow mane hair which normally dropped down her back and simulated flames, was now partly combed down over her shoulders to fall in front, very similar to how some woman with long hair sometimes styled theirs. He'd never…_ever_ seen an infernape's mane shaped like that! Along with the yellow flower stuck between one ear and her mane, it made her look even prettier than before! But she wasn't smiling and her eyes seemed...troubled.

"What's wrong?" he asked, hoping it didn't have to do with him! She didn't pretty herself up on purpose for him…?

She quietly yipped something, Lonny as usual translating: "She knows this bend in the river and those hills far downstream. But…" She waited while Ruby spoke again. "It means we're near to her home…but…it doesn't look right; there's too many trees. There should be some open areas by now. Even patches of farmland. And the river is too wide."

Behind him in the shallow water, Blaze and Grovyle started speaking at once, the male infernape continuing after Grovyle yielded. Ruby replied, sweeping her blue hand at everything around them.

"She says this place just looks different. She can't explain it. But she knows where we are by to this bend in the river and the position of the hills. We're only a few hours from her village, but that's through less forest. Not this. But there should be a road somewhere up ahead."

Leo wondered about all that for a bit, thinking perhaps the infernape was mistaken, or that she had fled much further than she thought and they must have come upon a similar-looking stretch of the river. But there was a more immediate worry. "Listen Ruby, while we were looking for food, we were attacked by a large venusaur, or at least it looked like one. If we are getting closer to your town, do you think we could be running into that group of Pokémon who were attacking it?"

Ruby nodded. "Sä rafa in na kra…"

Lonny still translating: "The closer we get, the less safe we could be. Her town probably drove them off as usual, but it was a large number. A few of them might be lurking still." Then adding obviously her own words: "Bastards. They'll get a taste of this spear if they attack us! By the way Blaze…" as she turned to face the other infernape, "you let a venusaur chase you off? Even as a human now, I would've fought it!"

With hands on hips and yellow eyes narrowed, Blaze started yipping as someone not too happy.

"Lonny, we shouldn't be making any more enemies here than we absolutely have to," Leo said, adding to whatever Blaze has said. Perhaps it was exactly the same thing.

"They're already our enemies since they're attacking humans," the light-blue skinned human returned.

Which could be true, unless…those Pokémon had good reason to? Which reminded him they hadn't been asking all that many questions about Ruby's town and its people. Perhaps it was something they should do _before_ they arrived!

After a very quick lunch of the near last of their Jamil fruit (something he wasn't entirely unhappy about), they continued and once again, Ruby put herself as much beside him as the trees allowed and basically opposite from Sally. And she still wore the flower in her mane...though she did still look a little confused, if not outright worried.

Fortunately Lonny was just in front of them, making asking questions and getting translations easy. After a few rounds of such, Ruby revealed her town was quite sizable, at least a thousand people made their home there, although it had been bigger at some point. The population was advanced, having some small-scale manufacturing going on such as metal fabrication, including firearms.

The description of the town's capability finally answered the question of where the worked metal they had found just prior to rescuing her came from, or at least from a similar town. Of more interest was her further description of electronic devices such as radio.

If these humans had such technology…

His wife's face mirrored the hope he felt. Would it be too much to think these humans could really help them get back to either the Poké world or Earth? Even Lonny whipping her head around indicated she perhaps understood the implication. Grovyle of course would draw the conclusion, but Blaze…

"There's a chance her people can help us get back," he said to the infernape, keeping it without specifics after nearly forgetting they had yet to tell Ruby where they really came from. Right, they were going to do that yesterday...but after being chased away from the river by the two large bird's battling, there had been more important things to think about! In any case, there was still time for that, perhaps after they met with some of the town's people. And if Ruby suspected they were keeping anything from her, she didn't show it.

Actually as they traveled on, the female fire-type exhibited growing worry in her red infernape face. After a while, she wasn't even trying to keep close to him anymore, instead occasionally pausing to examine the surrounding forest and position of the sun through the trees. Although the forest _was_ getting thinner with patches of grass here and there, it was still a deciduous forest like that found on Earth or the Poké world…with perhaps a few different plants. If they were supposed to be in open grass or farmland, there sure was no sign of it! But if it was artificially cleared and maintained as Ruby said, the transition would be abrupt and they might not see it even if it was close by.

Which didn't explain the road, or lack thereof. Ruby insisted they should of reached it already. That made not just him just a little uneasy and he had to give Sally a few rubs of comfort on her shoulders.

After another long while with the sun getting low in the sky, Ruby was acting very worried, with frequent glances through the trees to the nearby river, even at one point rushing out into the water to get a better look at the surrounding terrain. Finally after crossing over a odd straight ridge a few feet high, Ruby jumped down the other side, turned completely around and yipped distressingly.

"She's getting scared," Lonny relayed quietly as they stopped, looking concerned herself in rubbing the blonde hair between her short purple head fins. With Blaze and Grovyle huddling with them, "She says we should be there; thinks she got us lost, but doesn't understand how. All the hills are correct, but everything else looks different."

"It really doesn't look like there's city anywhere around here," Sally remarked, doing a complete three-sixty in looking around them.

Indeed, there was nothing but forest that lacked much undergrowth, with many of the trees quite large and obviously old. It also had sort of a smell that reminded him of something old… Facing his red-haired mate, he read it on her face as well as the others: deflating hope.

"So we are lost," Lonny commented in an even tone, letting out a long sigh in leaning on her spear. In a near whisper: "Then we're no better or worse off than before." After a moment, she walked over to Ruby and gave the appearance of trying to calm the infernape down by putting a hand to her shoulder.

But Ruby moved away, climbing partway up a tree to peer away from the river. A moment later she jumped back down from a height that would've broken a human's leg for sure. Pointing, "Infrana re frepa gah rapa he he."

"Her village was nestled against a hill," Lonny translated. "And that hill is shaped like the one."

Before Leo or anyone else could respond, the fire-type took off running in the direction she pointed, leading them another several hundred yards through the forest before they started catching up with her.

"Slow down!" Leo shouted, Blaze adding a yip.

With his superior speed, Grovyle reached her first, though more because she had stopped on reaching the sharp base of a hill, the base of which was strewn with rock that had at once time eroded off the semi-exposed steep face of it.

Turning about, Ruby yipped again, waving her arms around as her mane puffed.

"This is…the hill, she thinks," Lonny supplied, raising her arms slightly in apparent confusion as Ruby kept yipping.

"But there's nothing here," Sally countered. "We _must_ be in the wrong...place…"

Facing his wife, Leo followed her gaze to something off to the side. It was curious, but now that he looked around, there were several piles of large rocks in the area, some barely visible amid the trees both far and near, all covered in moss or otherwise half buried. Something about them looked peculiar... Going to the nearest pile several paces away, he moved around it as everyone except Ruby followed.

"What do you think?" Sally asked, staying on the one side of it. "What could create these? Is there some kind of alignment to them?"

"Don't know," giving a brief look to the nearest of the other piles. "But they sure look weird." And artificial? Carefully climbing partway up the slightly slippery eight-foot pile of moss and forest debris covered rock, he finally grabbed some moss at the top to start pulling it off. Sally, Grovyle and Blaze quickly starting helping with either pulling moss or moving some of the built-up forest debris out of the way. Within a moment, a definite artificial form began revealing itself as his heart started racing. At the top, the large block of rock was actually…a head chiseled from granite!

Ruby screeched. Below, the infernape's yellow and blue eyes seemed as wide as they could be as she backed up, nearly tripping before Lonny caught her. Like in shock, the Pokémon's voice screamed high-pitch in Poké language.

The other Pokémon's faces froze as Lonny fought to translate Ruby's words: "That's the head of a well-known statue! We're in the middle of her town!"

* * *

Lonny felt at a loss; she was never much good at providing comfort. She'd always been tough as a swampert and prided herself on it, and now being more or less human didn't change her personality that much, save for moments when she felt her losses all too deeply. Nearby, Ruby was acting hysterical, turning in circles, screaming at the various rock piles that now had meaning for her…at least she knew what they used to be judging from the broken words she uttered.

After several moments of that, the poor infernape just broke, collapsing to her knees and sobbing. She thought she was going home…and now the infernape didn't have one. They were in her home, but the town was gone, seemingly long returned to the forest if her scarce knowledge about decay was correct.

It made her want to curse - it didn't make sense! Further, she'd been hoping they would get help from the humans here. Obviously that wasn't going to be happening!

At the moment though, she felt a greater urge to do something to help Ruby, to say anything that could make her feel better, but her mind was blank. There probably wasn't anything anyway and if there was…well, she wasn't good at providing comfort; it'd probably come out wrong. Instead, she watched Leo go first to Ruby, kneeling down to embrace her, Sally right behind.

The infernape at once curled up between them, her tears flowing freely down her red cheeks and short muzzle. "Where'd they go?" asking between body-racking sobs. "I was gone only…a couple weeks! But everything's gone!" It was something she keep asking between long moments of just crying.

Eventually Lonny noticed Blaze and Grovyle standing beside her, likewise watching. In Poké speech: "Does this make any sense to you?"

Blaze slowly shook his head, but looking agitated with his long mane puffing and tail twitching. "Didn't she say over a thousand humans live here? Everything just can't disappear!"

"Not disappear," Grovyle corrected. "Aged by the looks of it. Apparently, considerably. It's like no one's been here for a thousand years. Or several."

"But that's not possible," Blaze countered, giving a whip of his tail. "She said she was gone two weeks. And she doesn't look a thousand years old anyway!"

"You're right, she's too pretty, according to you."

Blaze barely gave the grass-type a glance.

In most other circumstances, Lonny would've laughed at that or at least given Blaze a hard time. Whatever 'hard time' Grovyle may had been intending, he was showing no visible hint of one, instead looking deep in thought as his long head leaf stayed motionless. Then turning around, he appeared to survey the area, mumbling something about fog.

"Maybe we should make camp here," Blaze suggested after a glance up to the deepening red sky, getting a delayed nod from Grovyle before he bounded off to start collecting firewood. Lonny moved to help Blaze clear an area for a fire, glad for something physical to do while Leo and Sally comforted Ruby, something the two humans were far better at. She wondered though if it wasn't something that would be expected of her now. Even Harry, Christina's father, as tough as he always seemed…

The day the man's wife died many years before, she remembered that despite his own grieving, he still comforted his young daughter over the loss of her mother. Being a mudkip at the time and not having been with Christina for very long, that scene of a father holding his offspring for seemingly most the day left a lasting impression on her concerning humans. She witnessed how tender and caring humans could be for the first time. It was…one of the qualities she admired most about them…

…a quality she occasionally secretly wished she had, instead of her always-having-to-be-tough personality. Perhaps as a human…it might come easier?

Her former mate often claimed most of his human personality remained with him after being changed. Yet…he still had mostly Pokémon instincts, some of which he said undoubtedly changed his personality at least a little.

After camp was set up, she set about slicing up the last of the food, plus some Grovyle had spied out while gathering wood. She resolved to make sure Ruby ate at least something. The poor thing needed strength.

* * *

Leo Hanson let Ruby cling to him for a while. It took some comforting, but the infernape at last was calming down to the point where she wasn't crying and mumbling unintelligibly. One thing at a time, he thought. Just get her calmed down first.

Eventually Lonny sat down by them to offer each of them a few slices of fruit. To Ruby: "Come on, you really have to eat, honey," the former swampert said softly before forming a smile on her light blue and green hued face. "You're still recovering from starving."

The fire-type looked away from his chest to her, then down at the offered food. Taking a slice, she chewed and swallowed it, but didn't act real hungry.

"Maybe a little later," Sally suggested, taking the wood plate from Lonny to set it down.

Lonny nodded with a sigh and moved back a few feet to rejoin Blaze and Grovyle around the fire.

With Ruby again burying her head against him, Leo put his arms fully around her again, rubbing the back of her head through her fine mane hair while Sally slowly caressed the infernape's shoulders and back.

"We'll figure out what happened Ruby, don't worry," she said.

By her expression, he could see his wife didn't look overly hopeful. Did she share his suspicion? If so, it was wise not to say anything for the moment. Besides, to connect the dots meant having to ask Blaze a certain question, likely leading to having to explain to Ruby about where they came from; something else that probably wasn't the thing to reveal at the moment.

No, the thing to do was just to let Ruby stay with him. Then with her breathing still occasionally ragged, she moved herself away from him slightly, enough to sit on her own with knees drawn up. Her blue hand went to her neck and down to the golden medallion, still hidden mostly by the clothing remnant she'd refused to take off. After running her fingers over it while looking seemingly distant, she closed her fist around it and got up. "Infern rana gree rek frengu frepa ep lof rafa ye gena na apnar."

Lonny replied in urgent-sounding Poké speech as both Grovyle and Blaze looked up with surprise on their faces. With Ruby abruptly heading off toward the hillside: "She wants to go to the underground part of the city, to see if what they were protecting is still there. She says it might be still there."

"Right now?" Leo asked nearly in unison with Sally.

Ruby paused to turn around a few steps away and point toward the hill. With a nod, she spoke again.

"She was never allowed in there, but her medallion will give access she was told."

Grovyle spoke, pointing up at the fast darkening sky.

"It's almost dark Ruby," Leo added to what he thought his green friend said. "We should wait till morning."

The female infernape looked up as if just noticing the lateness, then back at the ground, wiping her eyes with the back of her pale-yellow haired hand. Looking suddenly deflated, she returned to sit between him and Sally without a word.

He instinctively put an arm around her again as she leaned against him. God, for the second time in several days, his heart went to her. For a while as the coolness of evening deepened, the only sounds were the growing nighttime forest chorus and the fire's crackling. Eventually he got Ruby to move closer to the fire with him and join everyone else in a circle around it, same as every other night. There she finally started picking at the food on the plate Sally kept by them.

While keeping a hand on the infernape, he exchanged a few glances with his wife, but couldn't quite read her. What he wanted to discuss would start to reveal a number of things to Ruby; maybe it was high time for that anyway. Tentatively: "I think that fog has something to do with this," hoping his wife's thoughts were along the same lines.

"So do I," she answered, leaning forward a little to face the other infernape on the other side of him. "Blaze, you went through a time portal before, right? Twice?"

Blaze looked up with his yellow and blue eyes, firelight reflecting off them as the rest of his face became quizzical. He nodded.

"What did it feel like?"

Shrugging, he replied.

"Like he was floating," Lonny translated. "Disorientated. He felt slightly faint the whole time."

Still to Blaze: "Remember that fog bank we had to go through to rescue Ruby? I think we all got a weird, faint feeling going through that. Was that what you felt in the time portal?"

Grovyle's slow nodding was hard to miss from across the fire as Blaze appeared thoughtful for a moment before yipping.

Lonny translated quickly: "He says somewhat, but the trip through the time portals took much longer." After Grovyle seemed to add something: "Grovyle says the trip only took Blaze forward and back a few years. Our trip through the fog, if it was time travel, appears to have been for much longer. A thousand or more years, looking at the area here."

Leo noticed Blaze's eyes widen considerably, looking back and forth between him and Grovyle multiple times before speaking, to which Ruby jerked with a barely audible gasp.

Lonny's tone became excited: "If we time traveled, there's only two beings who can do that: Celebi and Dialga! And Celebi can't do a thousand years!"

"Which means…" Sally said while sitting up, "…Dialga must be still alive, and possibly _here_?"

"Then why not reveal himself?" Leo asked. Indeed, if that powerful legendary Pokémon was around, why wasn't he helping them? Surely he knew who they were and knew they could use his help! But then…if he _would_ help, but wasn't…what did that mean? And then it occurred to him there was yet one other possibility… Feeling Ruby move, he found her glancing around at all of them.

"Infra na he he?"

OK, the time was getting real close to do a whole lot of explaining, he guessed.

Grovyle replied before anyone, but it sounded like a stalling response considering Ruby only cocked her head, letting out a "Heee?"

"So if it was a time portal," Sally continued, "then a fog bank certainly is a different form of one. But could it be a natural phenomenon? I mean…" After a glance to Ruby, "…considering where we are, far from home."

Alright, she was holding back a bit yet, Leo thought as Ruby stared at her, looking increasing about to burst with confusion or questions (or both).

Raising a claw, Grovyle got Lonny's attention before letting out a long string of grovyle-type Poké syllables, keeping her focused on him until she finally raised a hand to get him to stop.

"I can't translate all that at once!" Then after a bit of back-and-forth in Poké speech: "He says it might have been made just for us to rescue Ruby. It brought us across a thousand or more years…" Grovyle objected to something, making Lonny sigh. "_Maybe_, to the exact moment we needed to be to rescue her. And Ruby has a medallion that can open something, which also caused Leo's vision. That suggests someone's behind it. But…"

Again she faced the grass-type, getting another long string of words. "We might be drawing too many conclusions, but one thing he says he's learned during his months with Leo and Blaze, is when it comes to such things, there's rarely a coincidence about events like this."

Leo nodded, trusting his green friend's argument to be sound. "That fog bank formed really fast, and disappeared just as quick after we left too. If that was natural, it would have been one _heck_ of a coincidence!" But again, there was one _other_ explanation…which he really didn't want to bring up, but it bared mentioning. Assuming his intelligent wife hadn't already thought of it, but wasn't saying.

"So…we were _meant_ to save her?" Lonny asked, pointing to the female infernape.

Blaze yipped and Lonny added: "Maybe we were meant to come here, too." Then with narrowed eyes aimed at the male infernape: "It might not have actually been a trap? You're saying that large Pokémon just _happened_ to be waiting for us then?"

The male infernape through up a hand, obviously indication he was just suggesting the possibility, but continued yipping quickly.

To which Lonny responded in angrily in Poké speech.

But now that it was mentioned: "What caused that time-rift or whatever, maybe it wasn't Dialga," Leo suggested. "Maybe it was that large charizard-like Pokémon." Waiting for Blaze and Lonny to stop their argument and all heads to turn to him: "It used a Spatial Rend, which is one of Palkia's abilities, right? Who knows what other abilities it might have, say a time-travel one like Dialga. And presumably, it traveled right through that same portal with us to here." Still leaving the question as to why it left them on the other side when it seemed so intent on killing them… "So it _may_ have the ability, and it almost _certainly_ could have been in area."

That caused a certain silence even as he saw the growing confusion on Ruby's face.

"That...unfortunately, makes some sense," Sally said hesitantly. "I hadn't thought of that."

"Groo," Grovyle said in tone of agreement.

Ruby's mane puffed up before exclaiming: "Infra nà?"

Looking up to two of the moons visible through the trees and branches above, he decided it was time, knowing Sally had to be thinking the same thing, despite the unpleasant possibility he just laid out. Of course now, there seemed added importance given the strong possibility of time travel, whether by the hand of Dialga or the powerful charizard-like Pokémon. "Ruby, there's something we need to tell you now."

With everyone's looks pretty much saying they knew what was about to be told, and Sally's nod giving him some confidence, "We said before we're not from around here and came a long ways. But, the complete truth is…" Waiting until her pale yellow and blue eyes were fixed solidly on his, "…we're from a different planet. And there's a whole lot else we should probably tell you in light of what's happening."

* * *

Leo felt dead.

They drove the entire night to save time, the humans trading off between guarding Kol and driving. Without hardly any breaks, the long drive was tiring even though the International Police got them the clearance to, as George put it, break every speed law known to man. Sonya was very keen to get them to the lab and through the portal before Basil had time to find out and stop them. Despite the all-nighter, it was still late morning before they arrived back in Pinnacle Valley.

The plan was for him and Kol to spend a couple precious hours at his house to wash up and recuperate while George, Ticonamo, and Naomi went out shopping. Basically put, they thought it would be a good idea for him to bring some supplies back. Kol also needed new clothes, having worn what he had for the last year and a half. They smelled…pretty badly.

Leo hovered outside the bathroom where the Pokémon-human was showering, using an arm to brace himself against the wall with Chalesti, Akri and Hinric helping keep vigil. Two of the International Police team were there too for good measure, while the other two dark-blue clad humans stayed outside, making sure Kol didn't use the second-floor bathroom window to escape.

"You really think you can trust this human?" Chalesti asked for the third time that morning while pacing across the carpet, her short but quick gate lending a somewhat comical appearance. "Those awful things he said he did...can someone like that ever be trusted, whether they were… Brainwashed? …or not? I don't know if I could."

"He different now," Akri said, repeating something he already said several times as well. Floating motionless between him and Hinric with eyes half closed, Leo noted the Guardian looked the calmest of any of them.

"I also sense this human is different as I've already said," Hinric added, settling his yellow self down at the top of the stairs. "But I don't know how to interpret it."

The clefable stopped and sighed as her six wings twitched slightly behind her before putting her back against the wall. Placing her short arms across her chest, "I'd still be cautious. I also hope there aren't many other bad humans like him around."

"There aren't _any_ others like him," Leo replied, jerking one of his large blue fingers at the closed door. "Not on this planet. With luck, pretty soon there won't be any." He sure hoped Wigglytuff knew what he was doing when he gave his own personal OK to allow Kol onto the Poké world. Not that he had the authority to speak for the entire planet, but his was about the highest authority of any he knew. The pink Guildmaster was certainly the most respected.

Though if Akri was correct about Kol telling the truth, that the things he did was the product of some…mind conditioning that he has now broken, and that his real self was really a good person at heart, then there shouldn't be that much to worry about.

Except…the Pokémon-human wanted back to his own world. Would he take the first chance he got to try and take over the gate?

In silent prayer, he prayed Akri was right. And somewhat curiously, remembered what Wigglytuff said about there being no truly evil Pokémon. Being part Pokémon, perhaps that applied to Kol too. Although if he were to be believed, others from where he came from were quite bad. After all, they did the conditioning on him to turn him into what he had been.

Between thinking about that and worrying about Blaze and everyone else for the entire journey from the Kanto region, he knew his mind was turning to mush, his blue and white swampert body not far behind. Maybe he should take an hour and lay down. And just thinking about how tired he was made him yawn and his eyelids extremely heavy.

"You rest," Akri suddenly said, almost in a commanding tone.

"You didn't sleep at all on the way back," Chalesti added. "You look about to fall over, like a wingull crash landing." When he hesitated: "Don't worry, we can guard him," she continued. "If anything happens, we'll wake you. And there are two armed humans here too," pointing to each of the human males standing on either side of the door, possessing some serious looking handguns and rifles.

"Go!" Akri said, floating around behind him and gently pushing on the back of his head.

The pressure was ridiculously light, but Leo took the strong hints. Off to "his" bedroom he went, finding his strength to move nearly gone.

* * *

It was bright through the windows yet and his body still lacked much energy, which was obvious as he struggled to move after Chalesti shook him awake. Had he slept at all? A quick glance to the clock said yes for well over an hour. It helped, but the clefable had to nearly pull him off the bed to get him going.

"The human Sonya says we need to get moving quickly!" the pink Pokémon said cheerfully.

Obviously _she_ had slept on the drive back, he thought sleepily. But he was waking up as they joined everyone else downstairs, which was quite crowded with four Pokémon and nine humans in the living room!

Surrounded by the International Police guards, Kol looked…quite different. Without his knee-length blue coat, his formally long white hair cut to shoulder-length and sporting a red cap over it, he was like a new person dressed in blue jeans and a simple beige long-sleeve shirt. The change in physical appearance would certainly match his mental condition, according to both Akri and Hinric.

As soon as he and Chalesti joined them, Sonya launched into her instructions. They were simple: as a group, they would drive to the lab and proceed through security on her authority. Once there, George, Naomi and Ticonamo would power-up and activate the gate, which would take about ten minutes. If they were lucky, once Basil found out, he, Akri, Chalesti and Kol would already be gone. Sonya would take the repercussions of everyone's actions on herself.

"Don't worry, I have the full backing of several in government on this," she said with a steely tone. Then with a smile spreading on her rounded Asian face: "If worst comes to worst, I will have my superiors call Basil's superiors. Or if he tries to stop us, I can handle him directly."

She sounded sure, but Leo noticed the hint of worry about her eyes and face.

Kol almost seemed amused by contrast, giving a quick chuckle and slight nod. "Battle of the jurisdictions. Who will win, I wonder."

"Hopefully we won't have to find out," Sonya replied calmly as George's, Naomi's and Ticonamo's faces conveyed greater nervousness. Still, her eyes lingered on the Pokémon-human for a moment afterward, then turned to him for an even longer moment. Her face softened just a bit before turning for the front door. "Let's go!"

If it became necessary, Leo wondered if would Kol use his Pokémon abilities to ensure they got through the gate. Or more likely, use it to ensure he got to where he wanted to go? The Pokémon-human had been able to control humans before, though he admitted with the help of certain drugs. Waiting till everyone else left the house save for Akri, he held the Guardian back for a moment. "How sure are you he won't turn on us once we get to the gate?" The Azelf-like Pokémon tilted his head just slightly as he floated in front of his large blue arm, as if he had no worries, which seemed infuriating in a way.

"He do as he say. He help. That I know."

"_How?_" Not that he hadn't already asked that…

"Just know." With a quick sideways movement, the Azelf-like Pokémon deftly went around his arm and out the door before turning around with a smile. "Hurry. You be left!"

The way Akri seemed…comfortable, not just in this situation, but ever since he arrived on Earth with him… Was it he was simply as carefree as he seemed, or something else? Although at times the Pokémon seemed like an idiot, other times he appeared quite intelligent, perhaps even knowing things he shouldn't. Sighing, Leo left the house of his human self, figuring he probably wasn't going to figure out the Guardian any time soon. Besides, he needed to focus now on other things. Like getting himself, Chalesti, Akri and Kol through the dimensional portal and back to the Poké world.

The twenty minute drive to the lab on the very outskirts of town were uneventful enough, and to apparently everyone's relief, the walk through the building's front lobby, down the halls and into the lab itself equally so, with no one else around.

All three of the University researchers moved quickly up to the control balcony to start coordinating between themselves on getting the gate systems powered up, Sonya joining them to input a code required for activation.

Not that it couldn't be overridden, George had confidentially admitted to him at one point the other day, Leo remembered with a slight smile. But this way, neither George, Ticonamo or Naomi would get into (as much) trouble. He really hoped Sonya wouldn't either. She was sacrificing a lot to help them it seemed. And for that, she had his trust and gratitude.

Not so much Kol. He kept a weary eye on him even as the Pokémon-human remained surrounded by the International Police squad, as well as Hinric who seemed nearly in a trance. In taking no chances, the physic Pokémon was trying to suppress any physic powers around him. Whether he was strong enough to resist Kol was still anyone's guess. Yet Kol didn't look about to try anything. The tall, thin and boyish pale-skinned looking person seemed somewhat relaxed, waiting quietly halfway between the lab doors and the gate, looking the lab over like any normal sightseer while fingering the sunglasses he had been given.

Not that the lab had none of those. Back even before he and Blaze first came to Earth, people from Derganio Corp occasionally toured the lab. Then, Kol was in charge of the company, and wanted to make sure the gate would serve partly as a diversion for Dialga and Palkia...something they had already figured out at the time.

Well, it certainly worked in that regard.

Kol's admission about it not being a mere diversion, but also a trap in order to capture the two time and space regulating Pokémon...that still surprised him!

Since then, the lab had seen several other "tours", mostly from government officials, many of whom were scared of the technology. Fortunately those with foresight decided to allow the research to continue, albeit with heavy oversight. But remembering some of the discussions between those two camps still were enough to make his swampert brain hurt. At least he didn't need to be at but a couple of those, mostly to relate his experiences. After all, he was still a Pokémon, and many humans found it hard to take him too seriously despite the evidence presented he used to be human, and Leo Hanson no less! His human self had to do the most, not just because he was one of the researchers (and hadn't lost his memory!), but also since the Professor was dead, he really was the next one in charge of the project…until someone else had been chosen.

Despite all that, he was able to ignore a lot of it and concentrate on his reborn trainer career, comfortable in knowing his human self was handling things along with the rest of the DG team. Sometimes there were advantages to having two of one's self…

"Main power activated," Naomi announced from the balcony above.

"Interface circuits calibrating," Ticonamo added a few seconds later. "About six minutes until full energization."

"OK, on my mark..." from George. "Entering coordinates, and six minutes to portal activation...now."

Leo sighed as his three friends above continued through the procedure, gently touching the backpack full of supplies at his feet. With luck, this wouldn't be the last time he would be on Earth. He guessed if Sonya truly had enough support, she would keep the project active. Otherwise…this little activity would likely shut the entire thing down. But then that's what they all thought might happen when they used the gate to return to the Poké world without authorization six months before. It didn't happen then…but bringing Kol into the lab this time might be viewed much less favorably.

He felt sorry for whatever consequences would befell anyone despite their willingness to accept them, and wished he could have all of it directed at himself instead. If it was permitted, he'd return here to take his share of it! Rescuing Blaze, Grovyle, Lonny, Sally and his human self was worth any punishment he would be due!

Any such punishment was a minor worry, though. His real worry was how Kol would behave once they arrive on the Poké world. Perhaps with all the Guild's members, they could defeat him with some effort should he try something…but what about on the way to the island where the portal was?

"Leo."

Turning around, he was almost startled to find Sonya beside him, apparently her walk down the stairs masked by the hum of all the powered equipment.

"There's...um, something I want you to have before you go."

With a bit of curiosity, he watched the black-haired middle-aged Asian woman fish a small paper out of a thin wallet she had in one jacket pocket. Then on taking it between two of his large fingers, discovered it to be a photograph of a human woman holding a baby. It wasn't hard to immediately see the woman was Sonya, though many years younger. He looked back up to her questionably.

"I've kept this to myself for a long time, wondering if the other Leo would remember. But, now that's he's gone, and I don't know if I'll see either of you again..." She inhaled sharply. "I know you lost your memory, so you probably can't remember. But...I used to know your mother. We graduated and worked together for a while about the time you were born, and I used to baby-sit you..."

Leo didn't hear much of what she said after that, a long-suppressed memory suddenly braking free with the force of a powerful water pulse hitting. A memory of being held...his mother looking down at him...smiling...another face joining her's...Sonya's...

"...you were about three when I took a different position and had to move. I never had a child of my own, but I always thought of you as mine. Many times...I wished I had stayed in touch. When I found out your mother died, I tried to look you up, but..." She sighed, a sadness coming over her. "Guess other things kept getting in the way."

Leo stared at the photo again, the new connection to his former life still reverberating. "I...think I remember...a little..."

Two arms were suddenly around his large head as Sonya embraced him. "I'm so sorry. I should've made a better effort to contact you."

"Two minutes!" George shouted from above. "Clear the area around the equipment down there, just in case!"

Carefully, Leo wrapped an arm around her, holding the woman close and getting her scent for just a moment, before Sonya gave a pat to his back and moved away. Silently and without a look back, she went back up to the control balcony. Almost instantly, a certain floating Pokémon was over his shoulder, looking at the photo.

"That...a photo...like those in your home?"

He nodded, unable to form words at the moment. Certainly the last thing he expected on returning to Earth was finding another connection to a mother he barely remembered anything of!

With the prep continuing, he carefully packed the photo before idly watching Chalesti wondering around, looking at this and that. In her hand was the "circuit board" she'd been given a few days before, holding it like a prized treasure. Then she took a sudden interest with something near the lab doors that looked like a display of some kind and started fingering it…before quickly jumping back as the double doors slammed open!

Leo jumped too as a good dozen camouflaged dressed humans came flooding in! Not even pausing, one barked a "Nobody move!" order as most of them surrounded both Kol and the International Police, while the remainder ran up the stairs to the balcony, heavy boots pounding the steps as they went. And all of them…had what looked like heavy weapons, appearing to far outclass what the International Police held!

"What the hell is going on?" Sonya's voice demanded from the balcony.

One more person arrived through the doors, though Leo knew who it was before he showed himself by virtue of his itching head fins. Not that he noticed much, given one of the humans was aiming a heavy gun at him too!

"I'm putting a stop to this action," Basil answered calmly as he stood just inside the still open doors, keeping some distance from everyone else. "You do not have any authority to activate the gate. Especially to let that creature escape," pointing to the Pokémon-human.

Leo noticed Kol starting to move his arms, only to be instantly met by the sound of clicks from the several guns pointed at him. If the boyish-looking hybrid had any plans to try and help, he appeared to instantly abandon them. No doubt, he would have several holes in him before he managed to even twitch!

"Basil, you're an idiot!" Sonya nearly screamed in her normally soft Asian-accented voice as she appeared at the railing above. "Getting Kol off this world is in everyone's best interests! And we owe Leo and his friends a chance of rescue…"

"What you demonstrated was how easy capturing him is, and that keeping him secure isn't as much a problem as we feared," Basil returned. "He's far too valuable to allow to escape, dear Sonya. Or is that IP Chief Sonya?"

Pointing down from the balcony to the gate, "Basil Donavan, I have the full authority of the Prime Minister's office in opening that gate! You better have your men stand down immediately!"

"And _I_ have the full authority of the Major General, who in turn has the support of several prominent members of Parliament. Kol is to be taken into _our_ custody. I'm sure there's a whole lot of things we can learn about him that will prove very useful."

"Perhaps _you_ don't realize I came here of my own will," Kol said in a lower than normal voice, fixing a piercing stare at the older chubby man with slowly narrowing eyes. "I'm willing to leave here…through that portal. I am _not_ willing to go with _you_."

Basil raised a finger as if preparing a sharp rebuke, before quickly putting his hands to his head and groaning. Instantly one of the camouflaged humans stepped forward to hit the bunt end of his gun against Kol's head, nearly knocking him over. Basil recovered quickly enough and was soon straightening out his suit, almost as if nothing happened. "None of that now, Kol. We already know about your telepathic abilities, and we have drugs that'll suppress that."

Cradling the back of his head, Kol slowly stood up straight again. "So you think."

Leo carefully kept his curse at the man in Poké speech. He also wondered if he could get away with firing a water pulse at him. Judging by the intent look of the camouflaged humans, he guessed probably not. To say now he _really_ didn't like the man would have been a gross understatement!

Akri, still floating next to him, appeared to tremble while twirling his tails at the nasty end of one of the human's weapons. "This human needs to be punished," the Guardian growled with narrowed eyes, leaving no doubt his trembling was from anger and not fear.

Something from the balcony suddenly beeped and the overhead lights flickered for just an instant as the equipment hum changed pitch. Leo knew what to expect as all eyes went to the gate. A dull grayish light was forming in the center as the dimensional gate systems, now set, started creating the portal to the Poké world. He flinched, caught between making a break for the gate and knowing Kol stood little chance of making it with all the guns pointed at him.

"Sonya, what we stand to learn from that creature will help us defend against if any more of his kind came to this world," Basil said in a now reasonable sounding tone. "That's worth keeping him here, I say. Now, just shut down the gate," taking a step toward the stairs to the balcony.

As the human left the area of the swing doors and the one door began closing, Leo realized there was yet one Pokémon left unguarded…

Chalesti came charging at Basil from behind, fist glowing! Before any of the camouflaged humans could swing their weapons around, the clefable slammed sideways into the man, pounding him against the wall as he screamed and ending up with her arm stretched upward, brightly glowing fist against his throat! The camouflaged humans froze, Chalesti making it obvious she was just keeping her attack at bay by dropping the circuit board from her other hand to hold it out in a clear signal of stop. Then keeping herself facing up at the human: "Leo, you get everyone through that portal! Hurry!"

Kol laughed quietly, immediately moving past the International Police guards as several of the soldiers started to swing their guns around. Basil quickly cried out in clear pain as Chalesti pressed her fist into his neck.

"Get away from me you damned Pokémon!" the man screamed in a strained voice.

"She'll hurt him if any of you move!" Leo yelled in starting to move toward the now fully open portal, both grabbing the backpack and reaching a hand up to push Akri along through the air. But in the few heartbeats to reach the ramp to the waiting dimensional passage, he realized a problem, and didn't know how to solve it. Maybe Chalesti had a plan… At least above on the balcony, he could see Sonya trying to grab the weapon from one of the soldiers…but he was resisting.

Basil saw it too apparently: "I'm expendable, you idiots! Stop them!"

That was all the soldier needed to re-aim his weapon…until Basil screamed one more time, this time quite loudly as Chalesti was really pressing her fist into him, her fist glowing brighter! Everyone stopped again…and it appeared to be a stalemate.

"Go!" Naomi yelled, appearing over the balcony's rail and waving her hand toward the gate.

Leo backed up until he was at the threshold of the hazy portal. "Chalesti…" How could she get to the gate? As soon as she would leave Basil…

The clefable moved her small mouth into a smile and her equally small eyes became soft for a moment. "Leo, don't worry about me. I can't imagine a better place to be than on this world of humans and with all the amazing things they've created. I'll be fine. But you, Akri and Kol have to go and rescue your friends. Hurry! My energy is running out!"

Her voice ended strained and sweat was clearly forming on her pink skin as the camouflaged humans were looking more bold by the second. The closest formed a determined look on his face, swinging around with his large rifle…

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kol raise a hand just before the view turned watery.

The human stepped forward, but appeared to run into a wall!

Leo felt confusion for a half-second before remembering where he had seen such before.

"Come on!" Kol said, grabbing his thick arm and partly turning him around.

"But…" He desperately wanted to resist! What would happen to Chalesti…and everyone else? He was leaving them in a very bad way! Then on his other arm, he felt Akri wrapping his tails.

"We leave. Must!"

"There's nothing more we can do here," Kol added. "And I'm certainly not staying."

A quick run by one of the camouflaged humans, and a rifle impacted Chalesti...

Before Leo could lunge, he felt Kol jerk him with surprising strength sideways through the portal and into the dark-grey tunnel, the entrance and the now confused scene of quickly moving bodies in the lab dissipating quickly. He was instantly angry at the Pokémon-human…and almost as instantly resigned. There would have been little he could of done to help the clefable...and likely wouldn't have gotten a second chance at getting through the portal.

It then took only a scarce moment of the weird twisting and falling that was the dimensional portal's effect for him to realize something: he actually did what he thought had been virtually impossible. He was returning to the Poké world with Kol, who at least said he would help...

By a lunatone's light, he succeeded!

But…not the way he'd hoped. Not only was he leaving Chalesti behind, possible badly hurt, but George, Naomi and Ticonamo…they were in a bad situation. It was a situation he knew they'd been willing to risk getting into for everyone else's sake…

And Sonya too...who had helped raised him some...

Several different emotions hit him at once, though worry was at the top.

No, it was no time to be worried. Sonya assured them she could protect everyone no matter what happened if given some time. He would have to trust she knew what she was doing in such human matters.

Though...he wondered if he truly would ever see the portal open again. If not…

_Goodbye, dear friends._


	16. Chapter 16: Ghosts

_Feel free to post any comments on this chapter... :)_

* * *

**Chapter XVI: Ghosts**

No one was there to greet them. Not that he expected such; he had no idea when they would come back. But within moments after he stepped/fell out of the dimensional portal with Kol and a floating Akri, Electivire came running from his shop.

"You're back!" the electric-type shouted, sounding genuinely happy. "Oh, thank goodness! Kangason is running to the Guild right now to tell them you returned! The little guy hasn't stopped watching since you left!"

"We back, we back, we back!" Akri chanted cheerfully, twirling around in a show of apparent happiness. After a quick inhale: "Air smells so much better!"

Leo fought to put a smile on his face while keeping a very close watch over Kol. For the moment, his former adversary was just standing in the middle of town, turning about in getting a good look at the place in the very early morning light.

Electivire was soon staring at him. "Is that…"

"That is Kol," Leo revealed. "He agreed to help, believe it or not. Long story."

"And this is the Treasure Town I once heard about?" Kol asked, gesturing around him. "Very…primitive. Colorful, though. How many Pokémon live here?"

"A few," Leo replied in human speech out of habit.

"Can he understand us?" Electivire asked, his two black tails tensing behind him. "Humans can't understand our speech, right?"

"I'm more than human," Kol said, facing the large yellow and black electric-type and making him back up a step. Then frowning at Leo, "Should I assume you told everyone here all about me?"

Leo replied with a slight nod, thankful he'd warned most his friends, which was pretty much the entire town. "Of course. They know all about how you tried to take over Earth…and wanted this planet too once you learned of it."

Electivire stepped back yet another step, more behind Leo. "Uh, Leo…is he going to try and…uh…"

Kol huffed. "You can relax, there's nothing for you to fear from me anymore," turning as Kangaskhan walked/hopped over the bridge some meters away that connected the two halves of town.

"Well, welcome back, honey!" the kangaroo-like Pokémon shouted in greeting and giving Kol only a passing glance.

Leo suffered the ursaring-style hug she gave him, but happily so, then watched Akri giggle as she gave him a quick rub from the backside of one of her claws. "We're glad to be back," if there was any doubt. Then, it was immediately apparent she noticed someone missing.

Moving her head about in looking, "Where's that Chalesti honey?"

"She…had to stay behind," Leo replied tentatively.

"Our exit was, shall I say, resisted," Kol furthered with a slight smile. "By the way, I'm Kol."

Kangaskhan looked his tall human figure up and down for a moment, her red eyes widening only a little. "We've heard a lot about _you_, dear." Raising one of her massive arms, "Don't you try anything, or you'll answer to _me!_"

Looking at the ground, Leo tried suppressing his smirk, thinking that would be a sight if she decided to smack him. Still, realistically the attack would be short-lived, considering all Kol's abilities.

Shouts from the other direction told of several of the Guild arriving, including Wigglytuff…with the Lake trio and Celebi all in tow.

It wasn't that he didn't want to talk, but after a good while of introducing Kol and telling everyone what all happened on Earth, he was getting anxious to get going to the island. His greatest fear continued to be getting through the portal only to find out he was just a minute late!

The other thing making him anxious was Akri's manner. Toward last, the Pokémon's manner and speech began changing to that of someone in a sudden hurry, with hurried speech and very short responses...even for him. His observation was reinforced when the Guardian said they should be going, all the while winding and unwinding his tails which he'd noticed the Azelf-like Pokémon do when stressed.

"See, there it still is," Uxie said, moving an arm to indicate the golden craft glistening in the first rays of the morning sun as they arrived. "We even gave it a good washing too, so it would really shine!"

"Indeed. The crabbies from the beach helped provide the water, too," Celebi added.

Kol gave a low whistle while putting on his sunglasses. "You really weren't joking, Leo. It _is_ gold."

"And we guarded it well," Mesprit added with obvious pride, "even though a lot of Pokémon wanted a close look, some not looking so trustworthy."

Azelf nodded. "We are guardians after all…even though we really don't have much to guard anymore."

Leo couldn't help but feel genuine gratitude. Though there was precious little any of them could have done, they still did all they could to help. "You did a great job," he replied. "Thank you." On looking inside, he found the large silver-cored crystal that either powered or controlled it sitting on the floor below the control panel; it was also apparent someone replaced the panels Chalesti had removed…and loaded the back with several stuffed bags!

"We had supplies loaded while you were gone," Celebi said, flying from over the plane to hover above him on the other side. "We wanted everything to be ready to go."

"At a moment's notice," Azelf confirmed.

"Just in case time was short," Wigglytuff added.

Kol raised his eyebrows, working his way near the front to have a look inside through the forward windows. "You Pokémon here are industrious. I'm impressed. Earth Pokémon aren't anything like you."

"Does he _really_ have to go?" Celebi asked pointedly, putting her tiny hands on her petite hips.

"Of course!" Akri said with hands on his tiny hips also, succeeding in getting a glare from Celebi.

Looking up at the time-traveling Pokémon, Leo sighed. "Well, that was the entire point I went to Earth, to bring him to the island and activate the portal."

"I know. Just making sure. Sometimes…I think I still hurt from the blow he gave me on that other island on Earth." As if demonstrating, she reached to the back of her fine green-haired head and gave it a rub, her large eyes indicating a bit of anger.

Kol grimaced as he leaned against the side of the craft. "Sure, just add it to the already long list of bad things I did, since I'm already working off the debt."

"Seems you really got through to him," Wigglytuff commented with something that sounded like praise. "I thought it would be possible!"

"Actually, I got through to myself," Kol responded, getting several weird looks in return.

"I always imagined him to look different," Mesprit said, floating slightly closer to fix his eyes on the Pokémon-human.

"I also had a change of clothes," Kol replied dryly.

Akri snickered.

"Well, you keep a really close eye on him," Electivire said. Then to Kol: "Because if you don't help Leo, you're going to answer to _me_ in addition to Kangaskhan!", jabbing a thumb at his sudden puffed chest.

The Pokémon-human glared at the electric type for a moment. Then pushing himself off the ship to walk past Electivire and to the hatch, "Shouldn't we be going now?"

Leo grit his teeth at Kol putting it in a rather annoyed tone, even though he was right. However…there was one thing he really should do first, as a small blue and white Pokémon with fins on his head and back appeared at the feet of those gathered. Damn…with everything that had happened and with what Chalesti did, once again he'd completely forgotten about his son!

"You…going to find mother?" Chip asked, looking both hopeful and sad.

Leo moved to stand before mudkip, others parting to give him space. "I did tell you I would find her. Now that I have this person with me," pointing to Kol, "I finally have the chance."

"You will bring her back?"

"I'm going to do my best, Chip. Kol I think can open that portal. Then I can find her." Assuming she was alive…

"But, what if she is… What if _you_ can't come back either?"

His son expressing concern for him for the first time touched him on a level he hadn't felt before, and at once he desired to not leave him again. Lowering himself, he gently placed his large hands on either side of the mudkip and looked directly into his eyes. "Chip, that's a chance I have to take. I don't know where this portal leads, and there is that chance that…getting back might be a problem…"

Chip's eyes widened, became watery.

By Dark Crater, he shouldn't have said that! But he didn't want to lie either and give false hope… What the heck was a father supposed to do in a situation like this anyway? "Chip, listen. I love both you and your mother. You deserve your mother back, and I want her back too. This is the only way to…"

"But if you don't come…back, then I'll be…" His voice cracked as he looked down at the ground. "Don't go!"

Between his hands, he felt Chip shaking. "This is the only chance I'll have to rescue her, Blaze, and everyone else! If I don't try this, we'll _both_ have to live with the thought that I had the chance to find and rescue them, but didn't take it."

His son looked back up, tears falling silently down his blue face.

Nearly whispering: "Believe in me. I will do everything in my power to bring her, myself and everyone back. It might take a while, many days, weeks, I don't know, but I won't stop trying. Believe that." As much as he wanted to caress him, Chip instead wiggled free to charge forward and brace his forelegs against one of his.

"No! I don't want to you to leave me too! Please, don't go! Why can't someone else go?"

"Chip!" Oh, how could he explain that wouldn't be fair to anyone else? It already wasn't fair that he wasn't transported through the portal with the rest of them! Turning on sensing movement, he found Kol kneeling beside him with a hand quickly on the mudkip's back. Leo immediately wanted to smack the Pokémon-human's pale hand away in defense of his son, but Kol already speaking softly.

"Hey, Chip." After getting the mudkip's attention: "I'll kept him safe. On that, you have my word."

Flying behind and above, Celebi gave an uncharacteristic high-pitched snort. "Uh…_sure._" Her expression spoke volumes of her mistrust.

Kol was quickly facing up to her: "Consider it a small measure toward paying back for everything I did, even though I wasn't under my own control. I _will_ do my best to open that portal, and I _will_ protect Leo. Besides…who can beat me?"

Seeing the determination (and grin) on Kol's boyish face despite the sunglasses, Leo almost felt like trusting him. Almost. If it wasn't for Akri's word still… On the other hand, this was the most touching moment he'd even seen from the Pokémon-human.

Turning back to Chip, Kol continued: "Kid, your dad is absolutely safe with me, and in fact he'll never be safer. After all, I have some of Dialga and Palkia's abilities, if you hadn't heard the story yet." Reaching, he rubbed gently under the mudkip's chin, wiping away a few tears.

"But…you…nearly killed him…" Visibly, Chip was shaking even more.

"That wasn't me," Kol replied softly. "That was a bad person, and thanks to your father, I was finally able to fight him off." After a smile, he stood back up and returned to the hatch of the ship.

"D…Dad? Will he really keep you safe?"

Leo hesitated and although he had doubt, he still nodded…for his son's sake. "I think he will. And he's right, with his kind of power protecting me, I should be fine." There was…the one little thing he had yet to mention to his son…or to Kol. But he gave his own smile and after a moment, a smile slowly crept across the mudkip's face as well.

With a last rub over the back of Chip's head, he rose to follow Kol inside the craft, stopping half-way in. Not only was Kol and Akri waiting, but Celebi, Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf as well!

"We're going with you," Azelf announced matter-of-factly, giving a quick swing of his tails.

"Yep," Celebi added.

Leo stammered for a second, several objections jumping into his mind at once! "I can't have you go through that portal!" he finally protested. If any of them got hurt because of this, how could he live with that? He was pretty certain Blaze, Grovyle, Lonny, Sally and his other self would feel the same way. _Particularly_ his other self!

"And why not?" Uxie asked in a accusatory tone, folding her small arms across her equally small chest while almost glaring at him.

If her look were ever a warning to answer carefully, this was it! Carefully closing the hatch most of the way and giving Chip and all the others a last look, he replied in a lower voice. "Because there may not be a way back. The portal could be one-way."

"I also have to advise against this," Kol said. "The more of you there are for me to protect, the less the chance I'll be able to do so."

Pointing to Leo, "And who's going to protect him against _you_, if all your talk about changing isn't true?" Celebi shot back.

Kol scowled.

"Throw _me_ against a wall, will you?" her light green face and dark-bordered eyes conveying clear anger. "I don't forget something like that easily!"

"How about we settle this on the way there?" Mesprit suggested after a tense short moment as she moved to the still slightly open hatch. "We don't have to actually go through the portal, but we are at least going to accompany you there…just to make sure nothing happens." After tugging on the hatch with his small hands: "Uh…how to you close this?"

Having the trio and Celebi at least going with them to the island probably wasn't a bad idea, Leo realized. Reaching for the hatch, he yanked it close and turned the handle to latch it…before flinching as Mesprit continued.

"And if that creature is still there, you might need all of our help to deal with it."

Uxie furthered: "How powerful was it again?"

Leo hesitated. He purposely hadn't mentioned the charizard-like beast to Kol, fearing it might had given the Pokémon-human second thoughts. But he seriously didn't expect to encounter it…because it seemed to have gone through the portal with everyone else! But on the other side of the portal, that was a different matter. So…he probably did need to reveal that bit of info to Kol…eventually.

"A creature?" Kol asked. "What creature?"

Ignoring the question for the moment, Leo went to the front to retrieve the hand-sized crystal. Best to get the plane moving first, thinking as he heard Akri's voice behind him.

"He he. Nasty thing open the portal."

"Really? Well, I had been wondering about that," the hybrid continued. "You mentioned it takes a lot of power to activate this portal, Leo, but you didn't mention how it got activated in the first place. Since you need me to do it, that suggests someone else did it the first time…someone with a lot of energy….like Dialga, Palkia or me, according to you. So what was it, and just how powerful?"

"Really strong. Couldn't fight him," Akri answered. "Leo almost die, I save him!"

"Seriously?"

"I was knocked over a cliff," Leo pointed out, since it wasn't the Pokémon's power per se that would've done him in. "In any case, you can probably take him." And he pretty much believed that too. There simply was no mistaking Kol's power! Still refraining from glancing back, he set the crystal in its spot in the control panel, holding his breath. The craft coming back to life wasn't a certainty, but to his relief it did, with several lights illuminating and the ship beginning to lightly vibrate. Through the forward windows, the buildings off the one side went down a little, proving the craft was floating, and a moment later came the sound of the landing gear retracting.

"Oh!" Uxie exclaimed, floating to the front with the rest of the lake trio and Celebi.

Touching the "magic" screen to the left, he remembered what Akri had said and scrolled the display before placing a finger on the small dot representing the island far out in the eastern ocean. At once, the scene outside was rotating and moving along with the sense of motion, proving the craft was responding and starting to take off for the direction of the island. The waves of the Pokémon down on the ground quickly disappeared behind them.

Joining everyone else at the front, Kol seemed to take a moment to watch the land fall away outside as the ship kept rising and began traveling faster and higher over the land. In watching the Pokémon-human, Leo noticed his eyes behind the glasses seemed to catch on something on the control panel, his eyebrows furrowing for just a moment… "What is it?"

Kol faced him with what appeared surprise. "Ah…nothing." Turning his back, it was immediately obvious he wasn't going to add to that. Instead, he removed his cap, ran his slender fingers through his short white hair, before moving to the back. Facing forward again to no one in particular: "Who made this flying ship? This doesn't look like typical human work. Don't tell me the Pokémon themselves made it."

Looking at Akri who was now plastered against the forward-most window and not moving away, Leo turned to each of the lake trio and Celebi.

"Should ask him," Azelf returned to Kol, pointing to Leo.

Well, since it was going to be a few hours until they arrived, perhaps it wouldn't hurt to give his former adversary a shortened version of how they found the flying craft. And then…he was determined to get some sleep, a need that was re-enforced by a long yawn that took him by surprise!

* * *

Thanks to Grovyle's, Blaze's and Lonny's efforts, they had food that morning. As further evidence they were in Ruby's former town, there were wild Jamil and other fruit plants around in scattered patches, as if originating from cultivation humans did centuries prior.

While eating, Leo Hanson observed Ruby. He wasn't sure if telling her last night about where (and when) they came from helped or not, but now she had an explanation for what happened to her home and friends. They couldn't answer the other important question of why, though, and she was understandably still looking shaken…

…to the extent that for the first time since she woke up from her near-death coma, she didn't sit beside him.

At least she was eating. But after a Jamil and a some handfuls of small berries, she stood up, facing the hill and fingering the medallion hanging from her neck. Everyone was silent in watching her as she was motionless for a moment, before turning and speaking. He pretty much guessed what it was without Lonny's translation.

After packing everything up and helping his wife get her backpack on after his own, he followed the infernape as she led them partway around the steep-faced hill, pausing a couple times as if she was locating some landmarks. Of course, with most everything from the old town gone by the action of time, such landmarks must have been nearly non-existent. Still, after the sun had climbed a bit further into the sky above the forest's canopy, she stopped to face a portion of the hill that was more like a small cliff with a plateau above it, or as much as they could see from directly underneath.

At the base, a large amount of rubble was piled up. Mostly covered by plants and roots, a fair amount was still visible, some resembling what could had been round columns at one time, now broken into small pieces. Like it had fallen from above…

"Infer nagra."

"This is the entrance," Lonny translated. And as Ruby continued while pointing first up, then around them: "There used to be a temple above and around us."

The infernape didn't waste further time in deftly scampering up the debris pile, mane swishing and using her tail for balance. Once on top, she fought to remove a couple small pieces of rock, chucking them to the side before speaking again.

Setting her small pack back down, Lonny translated again: "We need to remove some of this rock. Blaze, how's your back?"

Blaze responded, reaching a hand behind him and grimacing as Grovyle replied to him.

"Well, I guess," Leo said in removing his own pack and moving to start climbing up the base, but found Blaze's purple hand on his stomach, pushing back gently.

"Ape'na gra infer ern…"

"He says to leave it to him and Grovyle," Lonny provided, as she started backing up from the pile. "Because Pokémon are stronger." After letting out a quick growl, "If I was still a swampert…"

Which was the first time Lonny had said such for a couple days, Leo realized, watching Blaze and Grovyle scale the rubble with dexterity equal to Ruby's. He was pretty sure Blaze's comment was meant as a friendly needling, though. And perhaps to protect her (and him and Sally) from getting hurt.

"They certainly can get up there better than we can," Sally observed.

"It's also getting crowded up there," Leo added. He retreated with his wife to stand by the former swampert as the rocks started flying from the top. A few times Ruby, Blaze and Grovyle had to work together to move some large column fragments but overall, it wasn't long before a good chuck of the pile was gone. Then…he could see it between all the infernape and grovyle limbs and appendages in the way. Behind the rubble was a smooth portion of wall, like it had at one time been polished. In that, a line seemed to form the top half of an arch.

"There _is_ something there," Sally said, sounded halfway excited.

On motioning from Blaze, Leo scrambled up the distinctly shorter rumble pile with Sally and Lonny to get a closer look. It was now obvious the rock face had been fully tiled at one time, there still being a veneer of thin granite slabs peeling away, but were fairly intact on the supposed door itself.

To one side, Ruby again started moving rock as if digging.

"Let me help," Leo said, quickly reaching down to grab a few smaller ones. With everyone helping, it only took a few minutes before they reached what Ruby was apparently looking for: a small round indentation on the side next to the arched crack of the door. "Your medallion goes in there, doesn't it?"

Ruby nodded with a quiet yip, then hesitated as her mane stirred a little from a morning breeze that was barely providing any cooling, not that it was needed under the surrounding trees.

"Moment of truth," Sally mumbled. "But whatever mechanism might not work anymore, Ruby," to which Ruby just nodded.

His heart beat faster as the female infernape removed the gold, round object and necklace from around her neck, reached down, and put the medallion into the socket. It appeared to fit… perfectly. He grasped his wife's shoulder as at first, nothing happened, leaving him thinking she was right; after so much time, whatever door mechanism there was couldn't possibly still be working. Yet after a anxious few seconds, smaller rocks began shifting as the crack started widening. The door was swinging backward…and thereby removing some of the support from the back of the pile!

Blaze and Grovyle yipped and hissed, both jumping back from the wall as the pile began shifting more.

After a frantic scramble down the shifting pile, the rubble moved only a little more as the door swung fully open behind it, leaving a dark hole into the side of the cliff. Ruby looked perhaps a little relieved with at least this part of her former home was still there. But…it was pitch black inside and the tunnel looked to extend far beyond the few meters the tree-filtered light allowed them to see.

"Flashlight," Leo said before finding Sally already had their one remaining one out.

She smirked.

Ruby was the first back to the top, looking in anxiously as she waited for the rest of them.

"Let's have a look first before we charge in, OK?" Sally said in crouching beside her, brushing her red hair back over her shoulder and clicking on the light. After shining the blue-white beam in for a half-moment: "It looks stable, I think, and there's several rooms or tunnels branching off from each side."

"You said you've never been in there?" Lonny asked.

Ruby yipped a single syllable which sounded like a positive answer even to his ears, but the infernape's head nod confirmed it. She seemed to just stare in for a moment then, and in case she needed some emotional support, he put a hand on her yellow haired shoulder, giving it a little squeeze. "Let's see what your people left behind then, huh?"

Tilting her head back, Ruby looked appreciative, even putting a blue hand over his. Then she moved forward on all fours and with a single twitch of her tail, climbed down through the low, exposed part of the doorway.

Offering him the flashlight with wink: "You're the man, you help lead," Sally said.

"Gee, thanks," Leo replied before climbing down next, followed quickly by Blaze and Grovyle. Immediately, the smell of a damp mustiness hit him, and he wondered what danger the air itself held for them. Exactly how long it had been sealed? Still, if they didn't want to remain on the planet forever, they probably needed to take some risks.

Once at bottom of the rubble pile which had partly collapsed inward, he waited for Sally and Lonny before shining the light as far as it would go down the tunnel…which really was more of a hall, given the nearly perfect square shape it formed only meters inside the doorway. It did also seem to end perhaps, but was hard to make out at the extreme edge of the light's range.

Giving a look back to make sure everyone was ready to proceed, there was what seemed a brief glint of golden light through the opening to the outside and above the trees, and a flash of perhaps a bird moving...or a trick of the branches?

The golden skarmory?

"What is it?" Sally asked, turning to look back through the opening herself.

But there was nothing more after a few seconds. "Um...nothing. Let's get going." He hoped. Probably just a trick of the lightening and all the trees outside. No use alerting everyone over it when he wasn't that certain he saw anything.

In carefully creeping down the hall, something that was quickly apparent was the construction was not that of a primitive people. Recessed into the ceiling were round holes with light fixtures, the evidence being several of them having fallen out to the floor below as rusted scraps. Also, the first of the 'side tunnels' Sally had reported were really doors. Yet further beyond, there were obviously other halls branching off to either side.

"This could be extensive," Sally remarked, her voice echoing slightly through the abandoned halls.

Leo nodded as they stopped at the first of the doors. It was metal, and although showing signs of having paint at some point, was greatly rusted over its surface now, water or moisture having gotten to it over the centuries…or millennia. It also wouldn't budge, the same rust seemingly freezing it's hinges. In fact, it was the same story of all the handful of doors they passed in the main hallway. Ruby looked the most disappointed after each failed attempt, and he could only imagine the emotions going through her.

Blaze yipped something sounding like a question as they reached the first intersection of hallways, to which Ruby looked first down one and then the other.

Leo tried to help her by aiming the light to follow the infernape's eyes, but each hall looked almost identical before each ended at far corners, suggesting they continued. It was weird, but the entire thing reminded him of an office building, albeit underground.

"What kind of facility was this?" Sally asked.

"Even here humans were busy," Lonny remarked, scratching the hair between her fins before breathing "Damn hair. Feels prickly."

Blaze seemed to also voice a question before Ruby shrugged and replied.

"She didn't know any of this was here," Lonny translated.

Abruptly, the female infernape lead them right instead of straight. As they went, it became apparent there was less water damage down that hall, the doors having much less rust, and even some faded lettering on their light green paint between splotches of rust…but in some language that was unreadable. Although…it seemed familiar. "What do those say," pointing to the words.

After cocking her head a little, Ruby seemed to answer with little emotion.

"They're names," Lonny provided. "Names she hasn't heard of."

Several more doors down, one part appeared different in that there was a window in the wall. The glass was quite dirty, but the flashlight revealed desks, tables and counters inside, with various objects on them.

"This is called 'Examine One'" Lonny said after Ruby read the lettering.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Grovyle jump as Sally swiftly kicked the door without warning…which actually swung hard enough to bang into the inside wall, creating a fairly nice boom that echoed through the halls.

Blaze let out a string of…something as he held his chest.

Looking to Lonny for a translation he thought he could guess at, she grimaced.

"He said be more careful…basically." With a quick reach, she gave the infernape a hard pat on the back.

"Sorry," Sally replied, walking into the room ahead of the light.

Leo followed his wife with the light in walking around to the various objects, some of which seemed to be displays of some variety…that weren't unlike what the flying ship that took them to the island had...

Of course! The lettering on the ship: it was the same style!

Which wasn't all that was familiar in the room. Even being on a different world, the function of some of the boxes, equipment and other objects wasn't hard to guess. Badly deteriorated bandages, stethoscope, needles, centrifuge, cabinets with vials and bottles…

"This is all medical equipment," he said, finally pointing the flashlight at the ceiling so the light spread to the entire room. "This is a medical examination room."

"So…maybe this is a hospital?" Sally asked, gently opening another cabinet that turned out to contain little except a couple boxes that disintegrated when she touched them, a few glass tubes spilling out.

Both Grovyle and Lonny seemed to be examining something closely in one corner, a small dark box with what seemed another display above it. Lonny touched several buttons in front of it, pressing them down before Grovyle exclaimed something along with her: "I know what this is!"

Leo felt his heart race a little in quick recognition. "That's a computer!" Of course, it certainly was of a design he'd never seen before, but all the same elements were there!

"Just how advanced were your people, Ruby?" Sally asked.

As Ruby yipped an answer, he used a finger to wipe away the thick, caked-on dust on one of the keys. The symbol underneath…was again the same style, that being unreadable by anyone present except Ruby.

"She said she doesn't know what you mean by 'how advanced'," Lonny translated.

"Define 'advanced', I guess," Leo sighed. When Ruby described their electronics to them, he assumed simple stuff! Now if he had to guess, they'd discovered who made the shuttle. And since they found it on the Poké world, it certainly suggested Ruby's people knew how to travel between the worlds!

Leaving the room and proceeding further down the hallway, Ruby started reading the lettering without being asked with Lonny translating as nothing too exciting, such as Storage, someone's office, Mechanical….

"Air and water probably," Sally quipped as they all took a quick peek in that last room after putting a shoulder to the door.

But it was obvious that some water leak, perhaps from piping, had reduced whatever equipment had been in there to just a pile of collapsed rusting metal on the floor, although some plastics and corroded non-ferrous metals were present. More than anything else, the sight of that gave him a shiver, like they were in an ancient, decaying place full of ghosts. Then again, if the amount of time had passed that they suspected, then it _was_ ancient! Still, he nursed a hope they could find something of use, perhaps even something to tell them how to get back to the Poké world.

After rounding the corner at the end of the hall, it was a bit surprising to see only a short distance in front of them before it turned back to the left, where presumably it would meet back up with the main hall again. There was only one door to the right, and the blue-white beam of the flashlight revealed it a different color, being more of a white verses the light green of the others.

Ruby stopped in front of it, speaking several words.

Furrowing her forehead, Lonny replied Poké speech, and then a short discussion seemed to take place between all the Pokémon before she finally spoke in human. "It's some kind of human laboratory, but we can't translate the name. Grovyle thinks the closest word is 'biology' or maybe 'gene'."

"You mean genetics?" Leo repeated.

"As in a genetics lab?" Sally asked.

Lonny shrugged as Grovyle spoke again. "Grovyle says maybe."

"Let's look in there," Sally suggested.

Leo agreed. Although it hadn't been either his or Sally's area of study (not even close), they did each have a course in biology back when they were still taking classes at the University. If this lab truly had something to do with genetics, that was the greatest sign yet they were dealing with an advanced people, equal to that of their own civilization, perhaps!

"But what does 'genetics' mean?" Lonny asked.

Grovyle seemed to supply some information to her…as well as Blaze, who's mane visibly puffed. Ruby merely cocked her head in touching the door, clearly wanting in herself.

If he had a mane, it would probably be puffing too, Leo thought while shining the light through the door's small window, revealing a ghostly view of covered objects in the barely illuminated darkness. Using his shoulder, the door opened with some effort and a lot of creaking of the hinges, almost sounding like they would break off! Then once inside, it was evident the room was quite large, easily three times the size of any other they'd looked in!

As for the equipment, there were many computers and tables full of various types of…things he really couldn't identify after lifting off crumbling dust covers. There was, perhaps, a large bench-top machine that might have been like a well-plate prep robot, remembering such from the genetics chapter in the biology course, along with…a PCR machine? On yet another bench, there was something could have been a sequencer, considering the type of lab it was proving to be...

Feeling a tap, he found his wife suddenly focused on Ruby. At the other end of the large room, the female infernape seemed to be staring into a dark corner, where a metal table and large desk were barely visible. She stood motionless for a long moment, even her tail limp.

"She's been staring at that corner since we came in," Sally whispered.

Blaze and Grovyle joined them, also watching.

Hesitantly, Ruby stepped toward the table…touching in with a gentle slide of her blue fingers through the dust and dirt…

Following Sally to the corner, Leo illuminated it with the light, although Ruby only seemed to notice them until there were already there.

Blaze asked something and Ruby replied quietly.

"She says she knows she's never been in here," Lonny provided. Gesturing to the corner, "Yet this place, this table and desk, feel familiar to her now."

The table looked straight out of a doctor's office, having what looked like a top of stainless steel. The large desk also looked like any desk might on Earth, being wide with two sets of drawers on either side. Of course, most desks on Earth usually didn't have large areas of rust with a partly decayed wooden top.

He was about to reach for the closest top drawer, but Sally beat him to it. However, it took both of them pulling hard on the handle before the rusted slides yielded the drawer. Other then some obvious writing instruments, it was empty, with Blaze, Grovyle and Lonny all looking either over their shoulders or around their waists.

Blaze then tried the other top drawer, clamping one of his purple hands around the handle and giving a yank hard enough to move the entire desk a few inches. The resulting screech was horrendous!

"Blaze!" Sally shouted after uncovering her ears.

"He he." Blaze lowered his head, but he had succeeded in getting the stubborn drawer open, revealing a couple books.

Leo reached for one...

"Careful," Sally warned. "They might disintegrate."

After handing over the flashlight, he paused his hands over them. Then taking in a breath, he touched the top one as lightly as he could…

Nothing.

Since it felt to still have some substance, he blew off some of the dust from the decaying wood top and lifted the book out as carefully as he could. It wasn't a thick book by any means, and really seemed more of a notebook with a hard cover, with the second "book" underneath looking similar.

Sally took over, slowly lifting the cover to reveal... Sighing, she backed away a step. "Ruby, can you read this?"

The infernape looked at the page for a moment before gently turning it to the next. She sighed and yipped after another few seconds.

"She's not certain, but it looks like detailed notes with formulas of some kind, or equations," Lonny said. "Perhaps lab notes. She hasn't seen them before."

"Try the other book," Leo suggested. Ruby nodded and lifted out the second book, a moment of fear shooting through him as the bottom cracked and a good amount of dirt fell away. The infernape managed to set it on the desk without further damage, though.

"That one looks even more brittle, Ruby," Sally warned. "Be very careful."

"Infern." After brushing her yellow and red mane back, she very slowly opened the cover with a slight cracking. Then whatever was written underneath, seemed to hold her interest for a while. Saying nothing as she seemingly read the first several pages, one of them breaking, there clearly was a lot of handwriting on them.

"Well?" Lonny finally asked, impatience clear. "What does it say, honey? Come on! Must be something interesting."

The infernape turned, her red face unreadable in the dim light. She spoke several long sentences that seemed to take the former swampert a few questions to get everything.

Leo sensed it was something quite interesting or important when Lonny's light blue and green face expressed some surprise.

Finally: "It's a journal of a researcher she thinks. It describes a long-term experiment about mixing…something, bio...gene material, she thinks. It…"

"DNA?" Sally interrupted.

Lonny shrugged. "I don't even know what that is! But Ruby says some from a human was mixed with that of a Pokémon. A lot of attempts were made, but the last one...she says it succeeded."

Could it be? Many things jumped into his mind, along with a certain earlier theory. "Say that again?" Leo asked, wanting to make sure he heard right.

Lonny snorted. "Human bio stuff mixed with a Pokémon's!" throwing her hands up. "The journal says all the subjects died or failed or whatever, but the last one survived after they got it right. It was their first success. And I have no idea what they were trying to do!"

Ruby started talking again in Poké speech as she continued turning pages.

The former swampert again struggled to keep up as Ruby didn't stop: "The one that survived was a chimchar...and it describes the first several days after it hatched. They ran some tests. But then project was ended after they became reasonably certain the chimchar would survive. And...the human who wrote this journal then decided to raise it as her daughter… Hey, slow down!"

Ruby only speed up seemingly...before stopping abruptly.

Leo saw her yellow and blue eyes go suddenly wide and her face become visibly shaken. Both Blaze and Grovyle also looked affected all of the sudden. Facing an open-mouthed Lonny: "What did she say?" Although, he really strongly suspected...

Lonny swallowed. "There were things about raising the chimchar for a while, then using stones to evolve her into an infernape quickly to find out if it could still evolve…and the name of the human at the end…"

The look on Sally's face told him that she was reaching the same conclusion even before Lonny finished.

"…the human was named Lilly. Ruby's mother."

Reaching back into the drawer, the infernape seemingly scraped through the decomposing wood dust to pull out what looked like a small clamp-on earring, a small part of it still sparkling in the weak light. For a moment, Ruby cradled it in her blue hand, gently rubbing a thumb over it. Tears were flowing from her eyes as then she then abruptly turned to run past everyone, across the room and through the doors into the darkness outside.

"I...better make sure she doesn't get lost," Sally mumbled, going after her.

Leo felt a bit stunned, and surprised. It wasn't the information he had expected to find, though it did answer quite a bit. With the light fading, he exchanged a glance with Blaze, Grovyle and Lonny as Sally and the flashlight receded toward the door. Blaze's infernape face looked rather stunned, he thought, and he couldn't blame him.

"Ingra se ha fretape…"

"He asks if, uh, Ruby is part human." Lonny translated.

Running a leaf blade through the claws of his other hand, Grovyle said a few words.

Leo waited until his green friend was done. "If what that journal says is true, then she has some human DNA in her, so I guess, yes. Truthfully though, that possibility had crossed my mind almost as soon as we rescued her. Sally and I even talked about it a couple times." And now they finally had confirmation, he still wondered. Ruby looked like an infernape, but compared to Blaze, were her differences due to the human DNA, or really from being on a different planet? Pokémon on the Poké world were virtually identical to those on Earth, but that didn't necessarily mean that held true for this third world, and they had seen numerous differences among the Pokémon they had seen...

Yet being part human, however much, did that explain her behavior toward him? She clearly preferred humans for…many things. Yet she was raised as the only Pokémon in a large village or town of several thousand. How much of her preferences were due to that, and how much to genetic composition?

Then there was more important question, however. In a low voice so only the four of them could hear: "I'd like to know what was the purpose of their experiment was. Why create her?" Which quickly earned him a certain stare from Grovyle. Immediately he knew how it sounded, which wasn't at all how he intended. "Damn, kinda callous, huh?"

Grovyle folded his arms, nodding.

With Sally standing partway out of the room, talking quietly to the female infernape while letting the light spread (thinly) between the lab and the hallway, "We all need to comfort Ruby as much as possible. This was plainly a shock; she obviously didn't know any of this." And considering she was already dealing with the loss of her town and people...

"How?" Lonny asked in an equally quiet voice. "I mean…what can I say to her? Is finding this out good or bad? She looked like she was crying, so..."

Good question. "Well, let's give them a few minutes first," he suggested. Then if anything, Lonny would be the best person to speak to Ruby, being clearly part human and Pokémon now herself. Although…it was also clear the former swampert frequently lacked the manner to bring comfort to anyone! Then again, she was still dealing with her unwanted change.

Looking back to the desk, he briefly thought of bringing the notebooks with them considering they contained a lot of answers, but with the way they were already falling apart, they'd likely break apart the instant he put them in his backpack! Shame… But maybe it was for the best; Ruby probably wouldn't be able to take any more surprises, poor thing!

The light dimmed yet more as Sally left the doorway, moving down the hallway a little as Ruby left his sight, apparently walking to the corner of the next hallway.

"I…"

Facing Lonny again, he saw her indecision.

"…she wanted to be human. Now she found out she _is_ part human. Shouldn't that make her happy?"

"Or she's mourning losing what she had," Leo suggested.

Lonny grimaced, closing her eyes and looking to the dirty tiled floor.

"But…maybe you should tell her what you just told me anyway," Leo continued. "Tell her, she has a part of her people inside her right now." Really, that was just something he pulled off the top of his head, but it sure sounded good and basically felt the right thing to say. And really, what else could any of them say to Ruby in this long dead place that would help comfort her at all?

The former swampert's light blue face looked back up as she hinted a smile, and started moving around him for the door…

"Leo! Blaze!"

Instead of walking, they now ran across the old darkened lab to the door at Sally's urgent shout. Out in the hall, she and Ruby were both at the corner. As he approached, a wide-eyed Ruby turned around, her one hand at her neck and clasping the medallion. A dim golden light was shining between her blue fingers…

"The medallion, it's glowing!" Sally said, pointing.


	17. Chapter 17: Relic

_As usual, let me know what you think! Have had hardly any comments or reviews for a very long time..._

* * *

**Chapter XVII: Relic**

Leo Hanson froze at the sight of light shining through the infernape's fingers. "Ruby…what…"

Grovyle spoke in an equally shocked tone as he stepped in front.

Ruby released the medallion, letting its soft golden glow illuminate the hall…

…except the small round metallic object began floating, stretching the attached necklace out ahead of the infernape!

Sally was already backing up, her expression in the golden and blue-white glows from both medallion and flashlight now somewhat fearful. Leo moved quickly to her, Blaze and Grovyle now both looking ready to defend in front. Wrapping his arms around his wife, "You all right? Both of you?" asking both her and Ruby.

"_I'm_ fine," Sally replied.

Ruby turned, eyes wide as she nodded. "Yä."

"What is that thing?" Leo asked her. "Why is it glowing?"

The infernape opened her mouth but shrugged before moving her eyes downward to it. As she turned slightly, the floating round object kept pulling in the same direction, seemingly only restrained by the necklace. Her hands were shaking, but after Grovyle spoke again, pointing down the hall in the direction where the medallion was seemingly pulling, she seemed to relax.

"Grovyle thinks it wants us to go in that direction," Lonny said as she approached the female infernape slowly.

"Maybe it's like a magnet," Leo wondered aloud.

"Some magnet," Sally said. "Magnets don't glow. Do you think there's still something actually working down here or…maybe alive?"

He could feel Sally's breathing elevate along with a bit of a tremble. Right…he wasn't doing any better! "OK, maybe this place isn't as dead as we thought. Ruby, has that thing ever done that before?"

Ruby shook her head before pulling down on the necklace. "Ape na rafa reeha."

"It's not pulling very hard," Lonny provided. With her own finger, the former swampert tapped the medallion, causing it to twist in mid-air a few turns before the winding chain stopped it. Then it slowly twisted back around the other way.

Blaze moved close also give the medallion a tap before Ruby gave him an annoyed look.

Lonny continued: "Let's see where it wants us to go," pointing down the hall with her spear.

"Agreed," Sally said, Blaze and Grovyle also giving affirmative tones.

Ruby didn't need any prodding as she started moving right away, letting the medallion guide her as she in turn led the rest of them. On arriving back at the main hallway, the golden glowing object gradually pulled to the right and further into the hill, proving it could lead around corners! This unnerved him greatly, as if there was an actual intelligence involved!

Reading his wife's expression proved her level of discomfort was close to his own.

As for Grovyle and Blaze…after pausing at the corner, Ruby ended up having to prod all of them into continuing. In fact, she almost acted excited now.

He probably couldn't blame her. After discovering the previous evening everything she had known was gone, having likely traveled in time to a point well past when her home had mostly decayed away, he would be grasping at whatever was left too, especially if there was any sign of life.

The main hall, which the flashlight couldn't really see the end of before, turned out to not go much further, soon ending with another turn to the left. After another short distance, it then dead-ended in a somewhat roundish room about twenty feet across, although the opposite side of it was a flat wall of rock…a very smooth, high wall, with some etched designs in faded colors…

…which looked familiar…

"That wall…" Leo said, unable to shake the strong sense of déjà vu.

Sally aimed the flashlight at it, revealing more of the mostly geometric patterns. "Ruby, any idea what this means?"

"If only my Leo was here to see this," Lonny mumbled.

Where had he seen…something…like… His eyes going wide: "That vision when I first touched the medallion; this is that wall!"

"Then…it has a door?" Sally asked.

Lonny moved to stand beside Ruby, seemingly enthralled by it. "Are those words way up there?" pointing up near the ceiling with her spear. "What does it say?"

Ruby seemed to answer, but her voice was strangely monotone, as if barely awake.

"That's nonsense," Lonny replied and sounding annoyed. Then to everyone else: "She says it means 'Here the ruler of Opposite sleeps', or something like that. Another word I haven't heard before."

Ruler of Opposite? What the heck was that? If nothing else, it sure didn't sound good. He was about to ask for some detail from Ruby when there was a screech; near the side wall, Grovyle was pointing at some other smaller design there, looking quite alarmed with his head leaf stiff.

Blaze bounded over in an instant, mane flying, before he quickly halted with his own near-shriek.

A pit grew in his stomach as Leo rushed over with Sally for a better look. Then it was immediately apparent what upset both Pokémon: engraved in the wall was a tall triangle drawn on a fat brown line, with many horizontal lines and upside-down "U"s drawn inside, around which were three small, solid circles. One blue, one white, one black, with the last on top over the point. And right above that was the sun symbol…the same golden sun symbol they've grown to distrust!

Yet that wasn't what forced the gasp out of him and practically caused his heart to stop. No, that was from the six figures that were also around the triangle, figures that were obviously two normal humans, one blue human, one grovyle, and _two_ infernapes, one standing more upright than the other…

"My God, that's…_us!_" Sally breathed, suddenly horse.

Leo felt his hair suddenly standing on end…

"Leo!"

At Lonny's urgent shout, he whipped around in time to see Ruby still in front of the large flat wall, slowly and purposely fitting the medallion into a small hole… "No, Ruby! Wait!"

His shout came too late as a square-shaped outline already began forming…

* * *

Leo knew he had slept deeply, something he would have at least tried to prevent if the Lake Trio and Celebi weren't present to help Akri watch Kol. Not that he probably would have succeeded considering how tired he had been. Even so, he sensed the quiet hum of the ship change pitch. Becoming conscious again in the rear of the craft, he found Kol watching out the forward windows along with everyone else. After a few deep breaths to help shake off sleep, he hauled himself up and trudged forward.

"Oh, I was about to wake you," Uxie said, noticing him just a second after Akri.

At her words, Azelf and Mesprit paid him a glance. "I think…we're slowing, approaching that," the latter said, pointing out the forward window.

"That's the island you were talking about?" Kol asked. "Looks like a fortress."

Through the windows was the unmistakable shape of the island where his friends and love disappeared from, a dread quickly invading his heart. He only nodded.

"You live there, right Akri?" Celebi asked, floating half-way around the island Guardian as her antenna moved slightly.

Akri sighed. "Home…"

"By himself," Leo added before feeling a tiny hand on one of his head fins.

"We meet there for first time!" Akri exclaimed from above. "You on way to bottom! Silly thing, you not fly!"

Leo found Kol paying him a questioning glance. "I was knocked over the edge of a high cliff," summarizing. "Akri saved me." Not that he felt like explaining anything to his former adversary.

By whatever mechanism, the ship still knew it needed to land in the cave high up the side. With the Lake Trio voicing various sounds of being impressed more than once, the craft lost altitude, circled partway around the island, and hovered slowly into the large artificial cave. All the while, his heart beat faster in remembering what happened inside less than two weeks prior. The greatest moment of truth so far was quickly approaching; would Kol be able to open the portal or not? If not…then the only hope was if Blaze, Grovyle, Lonny, his human self and Sally somehow managed to get back on their own...because there would be nothing more he could do to help them.

Or if they weren't alive anymore…

Remembering the dream he couldn't explain while on Earth, the dream he hoped was a Dimensional Scream vision his human self had, yet gave him some hope and he grabbed onto it as hard as he could. Upon the craft landing and removing the crystal from the control panel, he slammed the door handle up to push the hatch open. "Come on!" before jumping out and landing on all fours.

An item he'd left on the plane with the crystal in Treasure Town was the one flashlight either his human self or Sally had. That item now allowed him to lead everyone through the otherwise pitch-black of the tunnel leading to the interior room in the center of the island.

Kol paused at the fallen stone doors though, asking for more light. Leo humored him for only a few seconds before simply moving on, forcing the Pokémon-human to catch up or be left behind in the darkness. He really wanted to get through as soon as possible, something Akri still seemed to support in zooming ahead. Then…

He didn't think he would react as he did to seeing the chamber. The memory of the encounter with the "charizard", of being attacked, of falling to his death save for Akri, and then of finding everyone gone… Even the damned smell was the same! His heart suddenly started pounding, making him feel short of breath; hitting his white-skinned chest a couple times, he tried to loosen the tightness. Now was not the time to lose focus!

"Are you alright?" Uxie asked, floating ahead of him, her yellow face concerned.

"You look pale, even in the light from that torch," Celebi added, touching one of his spiky gills.

He enjoyed the slight wind from the time-traveling Pokémon's beating wings for a moment before answering. It actually had a calming effect... "I'll be fine. Just…a bad thing happened here not long ago."

Celebi nodded and closed her large eyes for a moment, but Akri got their attention as he floated to the center of the chamber, twirling around a few times with arms spread wide and tails swinging outward from the centrifugal force.

"We go, we go, we go," the Azelf-like Pokémon declared.

"That Pokémon is…slightly crazy," the real Azelf whispered, floating by Uxie.

Mesprit gave a nod as he stuck near Kol, the two of them looking around. "That looks deep," pointing to the trench on one side of the large chamber.

"_Is_ deep!" Akri exclaimed, stopping his twirling to simply hover above the center of the inlaid sun-like symbol in the floor.

"No kidding!" Azelf replied, floating to the edge himself for a look as his tails upturned. "Far too dark in here to see though."

"Interesting," Kol said slowly with a furrowed brow on the fair skin of his forehead, now walking to the sun symbol in the floor and partway around it before focusing on the one wall and it's mural. "So is that."

"Very," Mesprit added to his statement, before pointing. "Are those the drawings you described to us?"

Although he felt great impatience to get the portal open if Kol was capable of such, perhaps he should at least allow the Pokémon-human (and everyone else) a quick look at the large mural. "They are," he answered in moving to Akri and pointing the flashlight at the wall, Uxie staying close beside. Almost unconsciously, he started tapping the three toes of one foot on the cold rock floor. So close to rescuing everyone…

Azelf and Celebi flew to join Kol and Mesprit in front of the large mural. "And being the _Guardian_ of this place, you have no idea what it means?" Uxie asked.

"No idea!" Akri answered shortly. "Just what it say…and it mean you go someplace."

"That's not exactly 'no idea'," Kol pointed out without emotion as if preoccupied, moving from the depiction of the room, past the lines and to the large circle with the triangle in it. Then he seemed to stare back at the sun-like symbol in the floor again for a good moment.

"This place has an odd feel to it," Uxie said after another moment. "Like…" Closing her eyes, she formed a look of concentration about her. "Almost like something Dialga or Palkia would create, but…"

"Leo," Kol interrupted, abruptly turning away from the sun-like symbol with a face of concern. "That Pokémon that attacked you. What did it look like? Tell me exactly."

* * *

As in the Dimensional Scream vision days ago, Leo Hanson watched a passage open in the smooth rock wall, leaving a large opening. Beyond was a roughly hewn cave…

He felt Sally clinging to his arm as he carefully approached the hole, Blaze and Grovyle moving likewise right in front of them. But Ruby started walking into the cave as soon as the door was fully open, her medallion glowing brighter than before as it served to now light the way as it still tugged.

"Ruby, wait!" Lonny shouted.

The fire type didn't stop or even turn her head, nor did she respond to either Blaze's or Grovyle's shouting.

"Is she in a trance or something?" Sally asked. "She's moving weirdly."

Whatever it was, he thought about rushing forward to yank her back. But one thing he'd learned is his visions always showed him something important or relevant. And...the people who had technology advanced enough to do genetic engineering that could combine human and Pokémon DNA, perhaps they were about to find out what they were protecting so many years ago…and could be still there!

If he needed further prodding to follow the infernape inside, it was behind them on the side wall; the mural clearly depicted all of them…including Ruby, meaning his swampert counterpart's demise had been predicted as was Ruby joining them! "We need to follow her," and not waiting for anyone to respond, moved again the opening before they lost sight of the infernape.

"But…" Sally hesitated, holding tight in keeping him back. "If this is like the island…"

"I know, but I think we're meant to go in there anyway," Leo replied.

"Just like the island," she protested.

Both Blaze and Grovyle exchanged words, but each stepped forward to wait at the opening, Blaze's mane slightly puffed with either excitement or nervousness.

Sally looked back at the mural before finally nodding, apparently reaching the same conclusion.

"Fine, let's go then," Lonny said, rushing past Blaze and Grovyle to enter the cave first…with her spear pointed forward. "Hurry, she's far ahead!" Without further word, she started trotting.

The less musty scent of the cave was apparent as he moved quickly behind the Pokémon and Lonny to catch up with Ruby, or at least keep a couple paces behind. Each of them kept trying to get her attention verbally, but the infernape didn't give any response. The infernape only kept moving forward in a slow walk, until the golden light from the medallion and the bluish light from the flashlight revealed…

"A dead end?" Lonny exclaimed with hand on her hip as Ruby stopped in front of her. Grabbing the infernape's shoulders from behind, she swung the fire type around. To Ruby's utterly blank face: "What is this? What's supposed to be here?"

"Whatever it was was probably removed," Sally said with a sigh in moving the flashlight beam over the very end of the tunnel.

Blaze moved around Ruby and Lonny to likewise examine the very end of the tunnel with his purple hands.

Feeling a touch, Leo looked down at Grovyle's shaking head, his words translated by Lonny as basically supporting Sally's assessment.

Although Ruby's medallion still seemed to indicate forward, Blaze was proving the tunnel was definitely at an end. "Maybe there's a secret passage or something," Leo suggested, moving to the side to start examining there. But the light suddenly dimmed...the golden illumination was suddenly gone!

"Leo!"

Around Ruby's neck, the medallion was hanging like any normal pendant and utterly dark. Then in the couple heartbeats it took him to comprehend that, something far more strange got his attention in the remaining light of the flashlight: just in front of Blaze, the tunnel wall started disappearing…replaced by a dark bluish-black swirling mass quickly growing outward.

He started gathering the breath to yell to Blaze to get back, but it was already too late. In an instant, the mass grew to reveal a horizontal hole…one that immediately had all of them in its grip!

"It's a portal!" was all he managed to scream after unsuccessfully reaching for his wife. At least, he thought it was. It certainly had the same stomach-churning feel of the university's dimensional portal. Only this one was nearly dark, the only strong light being from their flashlight Sally was still gripping as she tumbled with the rest of them. But even that light was dimming…

…no, it was because he was fast losing consciousness…

_Not again._

* * *

Leo still didn't trust Kol, not completely. Nor did Uxie, Mesprit, Azelf or Celebi, else they wouldn't be there with him. Only Akri seemed to, or at least thought the Pokémon-human wasn't the same as before. He could accept that to an extent, but had difficulty thinking Kol didn't still have malicious intent, and his first thought was what was he after. "Why?"

Alright, he was also getting angry at the Pokémon-human's stalling. He had friends to rescue, perhaps from the very same creature he was asking about!

"Just tell me damnit; it could be important!" Kol shot back, pale blue eyes narrowing.

The hybrid's own angry reaction surprised him. Was he really that concerned about the charizard-like creature…with _his_ kind of power? "I don't know _exactly _what it looked like; this room was about as dark as it is now; I only got some glimpses of it," spreading his arms wide and feeling increasingly impatient. "It was just some powerful Pokémon who was trying to kill us. One that I think you can handle if we ever meet it!" Seeing the stares from the Lake Trio and Celebi, he forced himself to add a "Sorry."

"Didn't you say it looked like a charizard?" Celebi asked, flying to him and cocking her small head.

He grimaced, wondering how that made any difference. "That's what it resembled in the darkness, but it was different too. Like a large charizard with…" again he spread his arms, trying to calm down and remember the few details he did see but really didn't want to remember. Rubbing one of his gills helped a little. Then looking down at the solid rock floor in concentration, "I think it was darker in color…but it was dark in here! It was thinner, agile on its legs. Definitely larger than most, horns shaped differently…" After another moment, "That's all I can recall…oh, and it could speak human too, I guess…" Then one last thing came to mind: "_And_ it could also use Spatial Rend, which I thought only Palkia…and _you_, could do!" Of course he couldn't forget that aspect about it!

Looking up, he found Kol's face had become even more concerned. Or was he faking and getting ready to use the information for something? "Alright, what do you know about it?"

"And…all of you together couldn't defeat this Pokémon?" Kol prodded, his tone matching his expression.

Didn't he already tell him that? "I already said we couldn't even touch it! That's why we need to get through that portal as soon as possible!" Could that Pokémon truly be a worry to the Pokémon-human?

Kol looked away, mumbling something unintelligible while rubbing one of his arms as if he was suddenly cold.

Facing Akri, "What is he suppose to do exactly to activate this portal?" Leo asked.

"I don't like his tone," Azelf said quietly, floating away from the wall to join him, Akri and Celebi in the center of the large chamber. "He's mumbling about something being impossible."

"Alright you, tell us what you know right now!" Celebi demanded.

Which didn't sound nearly as menacing as she probably intended, though her narrowed black bordered eyes and hands on hips left no doubt she meant the question to be answered immediately.

"Remember…that story I told you in the control room on Fore-Nine island?" Kol asked in a shakily voice without turning around.

Leo nodded in addition to giving an affirmative, likewise Celebi. "How can I forget _that?_ You were trying to kill us!"

"No, even under the influence I was, I didn't want…" Sighing, "Anyway, not everything I said was true. But two things were. My ancestors _were_ transported from our world to another by Palkia a very long time ago, and my species _was_ created by engineering human DNA with Palkia's and Dialga's. But…"

"Leo already told us what you said," Uxie pointed out. Sounding sarcastic: "I'm surprised there was some truth to it."

"But?" Mesprit asked, floating higher and placing himself above Kol and closer to Uxie. In a contrastingly calm and gentle voice: "I'm sensing fear. What possibly can scare someone like you?"

Kol finally turned around, his pale face paler than normal even under the dim bluish light of the flashlight. "We weren't the first."

"What are you talking about?" Uxie asked, her earlier angry tone subdued.

He looked up at her before focusing on Leo. "There was another before my kind, an earlier…_attempt_ to create a powerful Pokémon with Dialga and Palkia's DNA by mixing it with a charizard. This attempt went wrong, resulting in a Pokémon too powerful and unwilling to obey. It wasn't Dialga or Palkia that nearly destroyed our planet, but it was this creature, named Granakri, _and you just described that Pokémon!_"

Alright, so that solved that mystery, Leo figured...assuming Kol wasn't lying again. He already admitted to at least not quite telling the truth before, which certainly didn't surprise him. "So we have an extremely powerful Pokémon here created by the same humans that created you," he restated while rubbing his one gill again. "Well, that's great. But it doesn't change anything; you still need to open this portal so we can…"

"You don't _understand!_" Kol came close to screaming in apparent exasperation. Taking his cap off to reveal his well shortened nearly white hair: "That Pokémon was _destroyed_ long before I was born! After the loss of tens of thousands of lives in fighting it, _it was destroyed!_"

"Well, obviously _not!_" Celebi returned, her wings quickening in their beat, proving she was getting nervous despite her tone.

"And what difference does it make?" Leo asked, trying to sound calm and hoping it spread before something bad happened. Although Kol's apparent fear of the Pokémon made him more than a little nervous now. A Pokémon that came back from the dead? Or was that just a lie? "Whether it exists or not doesn't matter. We _still_ have to get through this portal. Now, would you _please_ do something to activate it?" To further his appeal, he hefted his backpack and with Azelf's and Akri's help, strapped it to himself.

"That creature was quite malevolent, from the ancient accounts," Kol continued, as if he hadn't heard anything. "It would kill without a second thought, and tried to control my human ancestors. It thought of itself as a supreme being."

Granted, this Granakri Pokémon did sound scary in the extreme. "Sounds a lot like your kind…if what you said is true about your government." The comment earned Kol's fixed stare for several moments, making him feel even more uneasy, until the Pokémon-human turned to seemingly stare at the mural and the golden sun symbol above the circle and it's triangle once again.

After another moment: "And this symbol…I've seen it before."

The change of topic made him furrow his forehead and his fins tingle, allowing Azelf to beat him to the question of "Where?"

When Kol didn't reply immediately, Uxie lowered herself to be level with Kol. As calmly as Mesprit had been and in a near-whisper: "Where have you seen this symbol?"

"Could this all be an act?" Azelf asked quietly, almost in Leo's ear.

And for once, his first instinct was that it wasn't and shook his head as he moved to the wall to join Kol, Uxie and Mesprit.

Glancing sideways at him, "Part of resisting my own government was gathering information to find out what they were doing," Kol began. "I once came across a document with this symbol, indicating it was something that was being actively researched and searched for."

"Then what is it?" Leo asked, just beating the Lake Trio and Celebi as they all interrupted each other.

"The document didn't say. I later combed through several databases, looking for any other references. It appeared that there was once more information about it, but it had been wiped. I intended to search further since it seemed important, but was captured before I could."

Leo felt tempted to say something like "Whatever" but held his tongue. If Kol was telling the truth now, he didn't want to sound indifferent to what the Pokémon-human went through, even though he pretty much was. Well, almost.

Reverting to more of a mumble, Kol continued: "So if my kind is searching for whatever this represents, and Granakri, back from the _dead_, also might be searching for it considering he was here…it _must_ be important indeed." Turning away from the wall with a semi-determined look, "Akri. Will this portal take us to this?" pointing behind him to the triangle symbol.

Akri shrugged. "Don't know. Just take from here to another world."

"We better get _there_ then. If Granakri is also there, with your friends Leo, then they're in greater danger than you can imagine."

Leo felt all his fins tingling worse than ever, like when one's hair stands on end…to remember a human saying…and a human feeling.

* * *

Kol walked to the golden sun-like symbol etched into the center of the chamber's floor, pondering another possibly he wasn't willing to voice. One he didn't want to consider out of fear for what it meant, but the current facts did allow for.

He was already plenty fearful. Although the legendary Pokémon Granakri had been defeated/killed centuries before his own time, he remembered hearing the stories and reading the fragmented historical accounts, mostly told as cautionary tales to the young of what would happen if anyone recreated those ancient genetic experiments. (Not that there was a chance of that, with the current regime forbidding further research into hybridization…to prevent any creation of a new species in an attempt to defeat his kind.)

Based on the sketchy information at hand, his government of hybrids and the not-so-dead Pokémon Granakri appeared to be searching for the same thing. Another similarity, both in the stories of Granakri and what he witnessed of his own kind: they tended to oppress people…humans and Pokémon alike, and abuse their power for their own gain and enjoyment. In other words, their tendency was toward being malevolent, with only a few exceptions among his own kind.

Which made him equally angry and depressed...

So if Granakri _were_ actually alive and not destroyed as history recorded…that created one incredibly frightening possibly. That ancient Pokémon may not had just escaped his fate… he might actually have won the final battle against his ancestors, contrary to everything written. And if that was so...

A shiver quickly overcame him.

"You cold?" the little floating Pokémon somewhat resembling Azelf asked in its high-pitched voice.

Kol shook his head, although feeling colder than normal. "I'm fine," he lied.

Not that any of this line of thought mattered much for him; he likely wasn't ever going back to his planet with the use of Earth's dimensional gate now denied to him. Especially if where he was about to go brought a confrontation with Granakri…

…he would likely die anyway. If the old stories about its immense power were to be believed. Which he very well could, given the swampert's account of his and his friend's short battle with it. And the few photos of ruined cities that survived from the era. Likewise, if Leo's friends had ended up in a confrontation with the creature on the other end of the portal, they were long dead.

Well, if that was also his fate, then…

Strangely, he suddenly didn't feel as much fear about that as he imagined. By all rights, he should have died in the Fore-Nine displacement blast over a year and a half ago. But here he was, fully recovered not just from that, but also the mind-conditioning that'd been placed over him. Perhaps he should consider himself lucky? Or maybe destined…

_Yeah, right. I thought that once about freeing everyone on my planet, and what did it get me?_

Facing the claimed guardian of the place in the dim bluish light, "So, I do…what?"

"Use your power," the Pokémon answered as if it were obvious.

_Very funny_. "Could you be just a _little_ more specific?"

"I think," the swampert said while rubbing both his head fins, "you use your most powerful attack. Just aim it somewhere away from us."

Akri giggled.

Well, if that served as some kind of confirmation…

"And…we decided we're coming with you again," Azelf said after the Lake Trio seemed to come out of a brief trance.

"Because if you have to face a Pokémon _that_ powerful, you'll need all the help you can get!" Uxie added.

Mesprit gave a nod. "Indeed!"

"And I'm going too!" Celebi exclaimed after doing a circle around him and the swampert.

As brave as they sounded, the tails of the Trio were twitching, as if with nervousness, Kol noted. Not that he didn't really mind the company, as annoying as they were proving themselves... "My advice hasn't changed. If this turns out to be a one-way trip because there is no way to get back…" (as opposed to getting killed!) "…then this world would be without you three. And you too," putting a finger on Celebi's stomach and causing her to lurch backward. "Doesn't this world need the four of you?"

"Well…not really…not anymore…" Azelf stammered. "There's nothing left for us to guard these days."

"No, this world does need you," Leo said, settling himself within the borders of the

sun-like symbol. "Dialga and Palkia are both gone. The four of you, you are the last truly legendary Pokémon left here. It would be terrible if any of you were lost. Again, I agree with Kol. You need to stay here."

"Especially if Granakri returns," Kol added in a lower voice he hoped conveyed the seriousness of the possibility. "He was here once, and he has the same teleportation powers as Palkia from what I've read. He can return any time. And if he does, this world will _really_ need you!" The eyes of the Trio as well as Celebi's widened, indicating they did indeed understand at least some of the gravity of that statement.

With a sigh, he raised a hand, preparing a Roar of Time. Feeling the energy flow from all over his body, soon enough his hand began glowing in the purplish energy of the potent temporal attack.

"You not go, you leave room," Akri said hurriedly moving his hands in a swishing motion. "Anything in chamber will be going!"

"Is the tunnel safe?" Azelf asked.

"Yes," Akri answered.

Kol watched the four Pokémon float quickly towards the tunnel...although the light green Celebi lagged. Just before leaving the chamber, she turned.

"Leo. When you find Grovyle, tell him…tell him…" A tear fall from an eye. "…I miss him...and to come back safe. All of you!"

Azelf, Mesprit and Uxie added their own wishes from the tunnel, Uxie giving a special "Come back safe" wish for the swampert, including a blown kiss.

Before any more tears could fall though, he leveled his hand at the side of the chamber and poured all the energy he could on releasing the Roar of Time, making the room glow purple briefly…before an intense whiteness blinded him…

Oddly, before he felt himself blacking out while tumbling around in what seemed yet another portal, one question entered his mind. He'd become so fixed on Granakri, he'd briefly forgotten about the sun-like symbol. Clearly it represented something extremely important...if not dangerous in its own right.

* * *

Warmth.

Leo Hanson felt it on his face and arms in coming to, eventually opening his eyes a crack to extreme brightness. Sitting up slowly, he waited for his eyes to adjust to the sunbathed landscape. Once able to see properly, he found himself on the side of a hill, one covered with short grass and scattered white wildflowers. The fresh, wonderful scent of the grasses hit his nose as a light breeze played over him and through his hair, providing some cooling against the warm sun, which really didn't feel as intense as it's brightness suggested…

A few feet away, Grovyle's head popped up above the grass, apparently having just come to himself.

"Sally? Sally?" After a frantic second's search, he found his mate lying somewhat behind him. She immediately stirred when he touched her, and like they were all in sync, Lonny, Blaze and Ruby also then stirred. No one seemed injured, he observed with relief before helping his wife sit up. Giving her a quick hug, "You alright?"

She looked about for a half moment, blinking and shielding her eyes from the overhead sun while swiveling her head around. "I…think…so. You?"

"I'm fine; nothing broken, and everyone's here."

"Good. So, where are we?"

"No idea," Leo answered in starting to ponder the question seriously now that everyone was present and seemingly unharmed. He sure hoped it wasn't yet another planet! But wherever they were, it sure didn't look bad and was a definite improvement over the mountain ridge they were dumped on before from the other portal! If anything, he felt a calming…overwhelming sense of peace come over him.

Under a deep blue sky with a few fluffy white clouds, most the landscape mirrored the hill they were on: other hills with grasses and wildflowers waving slowly in the gentle breezes. Some had trees; "their" hill had a single one near the top, resembling a small fruit tree of some kind, judging by the red things hanging from it. Apples? As idealistic as it all looked, something didn't seem quite right though. Shading his eyes and squinting, he stared at the distant horizon; it looked unsteady…like there was a certain "wateriness" to it.

Grovyle said something followed by Blaze. Lonny chimed in before translating: "In the distance you can see it wavering."

"It seems to be everywhere," Leo furthered. "Except for this hill we're on. It's the only steady thing." Indeed, just around the hill's base, the wavering stopped and solidified…whatever that indicated.

"How weird," Sally commented. "Surely that portal had a purpose in bringing us here…I hope. Seems that medallion was a key not just to that door."

After Grovyle said something else: "And Grovyle says he doesn't see or hear any birds or animals," Lonny said. "Neither do I."

"He's right," Sally said, now looking around quickly.

It was true, Leo realized: nothing else animate was visible, even in the wavering distance as best his eyes could make out, which were as good as Grovyle's. Only grass, trees and flowers… Not even crickets or cricketots.

"So where is this?" Lonny asked, scratching the top of her head and pulling out a stalk of grass from her still short blonde hair.

"We still have our backpacks," Leo pointed out, just noticing the weight on his back and the straps holding it on. Apparently he'd gotten fairly used to it. Anyway, the first order of business was to figure out where they were…if possible. "How about we go to the top of this hill and have a better look around?"

"How's Ruby?" Sally asked, directing the question toward Blaze and Grovyle who were closest to the female infernape.

For the first time since they arrived at the chamber the medallion led them to, Ruby was responsive and yipped a response, though her tone sounded cautious.

"She's fine," Lonny translated, "but wants to know how she got here. Last thing she remembers is reading the inscription."

Leo gave her a more careful look, trying to read her expression. "You don't remember putting the medallion in the wall and opening the hidden door, or leading us through the tunnel to the portal?"

Ruby's eyes widened before she shook her head, her red forehead furrowed.

"You looked like you were in a trance, honey," Lonny said before putting a hand on the infernape's shoulder. "Are you sure you're feeling OK now?"

For the moment, he felt glad Lonny was stepping up to look after her. But in remembering something: "Ruby, could this be what your town was guarding? The portal to this place?"

The infernape shrugged her yellow hair-covered shoulders, brow ridge still furrowed. "Infr narit, he he."

Before Lonny could translate: "Let me guess: you don't know."

Lonny nodded.

"Well, let's get up there," Sally said, pointing up the slope. "Oh, the flashlight."

Getting to his feet, he helped his mate up after she retrieved the flashlight which had traveled with them through now two unknown portals while Lonny helped Ruby up, Grovyle and Blaze managing themselves well enough. It was another minor relief to have further proof none of them were hurt, considering how much they were knocked around. Then like it was a couple days before, Ruby moved to his side and grabbed his arm to walk alongside as they started moving up the hill; she was shaking.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked quietly as Lonny, Grovyle and Blaze all looked back at her with varying expressions of surprise or concern. It was of course a stupid question, he realized instantly! In the last day, she found her village in ruins because she was likely transported hundreds or thousands of years into the future and everyone she knew was long since dead, broke into the last remaining part of her town to discover she had been genetically engineered with some human DNA, was put under control of a medallion none of them knew much about and which opened a hidden chamber (the same medallion that had triggered a Dimensional Scream vision in him many days before), and now had been transported with everyone through another portal to God-knows-where.

And he just asked her what was wrong.

Sally gave him a mildly dirty look as she moved to be on the other side of the infernape.

OK, not that he wasn't a bit fearful himself at the moment, but there really didn't seem anything scary about the place. Currently.

Reaching across himself to stroke her mane a little with his one free hand, "You know, this place is what your people were probably protecting. It sure is beautiful. Maybe it was meant as a place to come for rest or protection. I don't think there's anything to be afraid of here."

She looked up with her yellow and blue eyes before sighing. Nodding, she did seem to relax and through his arm, he felt her shaking subside. Everyone else seemed relaxed too; perhaps the same peace he felt was having an effect on them also? Obviously Ruby had been worked up far more than any of them…with good reason!

Sally reached to squeeze his shoulder as they got going up the hill again, and he soon felt Ruby's head briefly lean against his arm. He fought the urge to wrap his one arm around her. For the next moment, he simply focused on the top of the hill, and more specifically, the backs of Blaze, Grovyle and Lonny as they lead the way up the slope. Although not very steep, it felt still easier going up than he would have thought. In fact, his backpack didn't feel as heavy as it should. "Any of you notice how easy it is walking up this hill?"

Blaze, Grovyle and Lonny all gave some sort of surprised affirmative.

Sally suddenly stopped. Then crouching only slightly, she jumped straight into the air…a good five feet! "The gravity!" she exclaimed after landing, red hair flying above her to a ridiculous amount. "It's lighter here!"

Before Leo could reply with a guess of about two-thirds of Earth's based on Sally's jump, Blaze also jumped, well above Sally's high mark. Of course, infernapes were almost natural jumpers.

"He he! Inferna ro apei ga!"

Grovyle tried as well, not quite matching Blaze's mark.

Both Pokémon turned to Lonny and spoke, and she sighed with what sounded as indignation. "Yes, humans can probably jump higher than swamperts." After a giggle by Blaze, a couple spoken words by Ruby, and a crossed-arms stare from Grovyle, she finally dropped her spear and jumped as high as Sally had.

"Not bad for almost no crouch," Leo complimented.

Lonny rolled her eyes in bending over to retrieve her spear.

"So, about two-third of Earth's and the Poké world's gravity, I'm guessing," Sally said.

"I was going to say that," Leo teased, getting a smirk from her.

It was apparent they were in good spirits now considering what just happened. He could just feel it, like his worries partly melting away…though not completely. Along with the gravity, the weight of all his problems felt less too.

Getting the rest of the way up took only a couple minutes, with the short grass providing no hindrance. Then as they rounded the crest, two things became evident on the small, somewhat flattened top: the tree did indeed have a large number of ripe apples hanging from its branches, and at the very center of the peak was a peculiar medium-hued grey stone. Shaped like a long, three-sided triangular pillar about four feet wide at the base, and perhaps ten high with a very pointed top.

"Gro nater vyi!"

He didn't know the exact translation, but he'd lived with Grovyle long enough to know it was his particular expression of surprise.

"If I had to guess, that's the point of this place," Sally said. Then quickly: "Pun not intended."

"Some kind of marker?" Leo theorized while stopping to pick a few apples. After passing one to Grovyle, his long-time partner took a sniff of it before biting in. After chewing, he gave a claw up. "They're good to eat," for those that didn't know what Grovyle's gesture meant. Biting in, an incredible sweetness hit him and he wondered briefly if that was because it had been a while since he had an apple, or that these were especially good for whatever reason. At the moment he didn't really care as he devoured it, and soon had picked seconds for everyone before they moved to the pillar. Even several meters from the tree, it was easy to see the pillar had a large hole in it about half-way up with daylight shining through, like it had been drilled in from all three sides to meet in the center. And the hole wasn't empty.

He leaned in close with his wife to get a better look at the maybe three-inch diameter black sphere, sitting dead center where the holes converged. Blaze's, Grovyle's, Lonny's and Ruby's faces all were staring in from the other two sides, each with their own quizzical expressions.

"Is it glass?" Lonny asked. Blaze asked a question, the former swampert shrugging in response.

Grovyle followed with something else, which seemed to get Ruby's attention before she moved to his side.

Lonny quickly followed. "There's an inscription here!"

In seconds they were all gathered around, looking over engraved symbols above the hole that only appeared on that side. Although he couldn't read them as he expected, they resembled the characters in the underground facility, and Ruby was already starting to speak. Anxiously, he waited for Lonny to translate, which she finally did with another shrug.

"Same as the other one," she provided. "'Here the ruler of Opposite sleeps'. Except it also says: 'The Griseous orb may be used by those who are worthy.'"

"Griseous orb?" Leo asked, exchanging a glance with Sally and then everyone else. "Any of you ever heard of it?" Lots of head shaking answered his question…including Ruby's, unfortunately.

Sticking her spear in the ground, "Maybe we should just take it," Lonny said, and before Blaze and Grovyle could get their hands on her light-blue arm or anyone could shout, she reached past Ruby to grab it! "Well, doesn't look like anything much," she said after a second of holding it in front of her face.

Heart pounding, Leo let out a sigh that nothing had happened! "Damn, Lonny!"

"You shouldn't just grab things like that!" Sally chided. "It could have been a trap!"

Blaze also exclaimed something as his mane settled down, like a short lecture judging by his gestures.

"Standing around doing nothing isn't going to get anything done," Lonny defended against the male infernape. "We either take it or we don't."

"I would have liked to know how 'worthy' is defined first though," Sally continued.

"Or what will happen to those who aren't," Leo furthered, noting nods from both Blaze and Grovyle before hesitantly taking the orb on Lonny offering it with an annoyed sigh. Turning it around in his hand, it looked utterly black and featureless. Just like a large, perfectly black glass marble. And it weighed about as much, too. He could even see his reflection in it…

…although now that he focused on that, there was something odd about the reflection of the pillar and sky…like a gathering darkness above them... In fact, the entire area was now becoming dim, like a dark cloud was passing over the sun.

Blaze yipped with alarm.

"Leo! What's…"

Sally's question trailed off as all around them, everything was fading, like both color and light was being drained, and rapidly! The wavering distant landscape, the apple tree, the hill underneath them, the pillar next to them…everything but each other.

Ruby shrieked and Lonny cursed as even the ground beneath started fading…and was completely gone in just seconds! In its place…

"Portal!" was then all he could yell before they fell into it!

He wasn't sure if it was a blessing or curse that he didn't black out this time. At least he had been able to grab his wife and together, they rode through. Fortunately the entire trip didn't take long, but the destination was pitch black as he felt himself hit some floor, surprisingly gently. "Is everyone here; anyone hurt?" he called out.

"I'm OK," Sally replied with a shaky voice, still hanging onto him.

After several Pokémon sounds, Lonny relayed all the Pokémon and herself were OK too.

"Hang on a second before any of you move," Sally said. After some sounds of rummaging through her pack, the place was quickly illuminated with the bluish light from the flashlight, revealing… "Is this that tunnel again?"

Not that he remembered the details of it all that well, but it sure looked the same.

"Looks like it," Lonny provided, Grovyle adding an affirmative squawk.

"I'm ready to get out of here," Leo said and started to get up before realizing the black orb was still in his one hand. Even through all that twisting and tumbling and hitting the rock floor, he had held on to it. Somehow. Except, he swore he had let go when he first started falling...

It was with enormous relief when he emerged from the ancient underground facility with everyone and back into familiar daylight, the forest under a noon-time sun greeting all of them with what seemed a happy embrace of warm air and varied forest sounds. With a deep breath of the fresh air, he appreciated it after the musty smell of decay they left behind, and followed Sally in scaling down the rubble pile that blocked part of the entrance. Then facing Ruby: "OK, this is your treasure; you should have it, since I think it's pretty clear this is what your people were protecting."

"Amazing it was still there after so long," Sally said. "Perhaps…it was meant it for _you_, given you had the medallion that unlocked the door."

The female infernape first gave him, then his wife a look that seemed both sad and curious. Taking the orb, she held it for a moment…then promptly handed it back with some Pokémon speech.

"Pack it, she says," Lonny translated. "She doesn't know what to do with it or even what it is." To Ruby: "Well, it has to be valuable!"

"Or capable of doing something important," Sally suggested.

"The inscription did say 'use'", Leo reminded while removing his pack, enjoying a moment with the weight off his back before packing the orb away.

Sally continued: "If Ruby's village was guarding it, and it required that medallion key and a portal no less to get to it, then whatever it can do might also be dangerous. Grovyle, Blaze, have either of you in any of your explorations, seen anything similar to that thing? Or anything that was called even remotely like a Griseous Orb? Surely the Poké world has something."

Leo waited with his wife, Lonny and Ruby as Blaze and Grovyle seem to debate between themselves in a flurry of squawks, yips and other assorted sounds amid several gestures. Over those moments, he thought for the millionth time what he wouldn't give to understand Poké speech. Which wasn't much of an exaggeration either!

During this, Ruby settled against some of the rubble, her eyes wondering over the area. The look of loss was hard to miss in her eyes, he thought. Settling next to her, he started petting her shoulder…

"Skar! Mor rek ar ory!"

Jolting upright, his eyes were instantly to the sky; through the tree branches, the outline of the now-familiar golden skarmory appeared it flew above. So he _did_ see it just after they entered the tunnel! Had it been waiting for them all that time to come out? But after several more squawks, it turned and started heading straight for the river…rather quickly.

"What did it say?" Sally asked.

On his wife's question, he noticed the various expressions of puzzlement on Lonny's and the Pokémon's faces.

"It was saying something about the river, everyone hurry to the river," Lonny answered before looking to Ruby.

The fire-type shrugged as she leaned to the side, still watching the retreating bird.

After a bit more watching and seeing nothing, Blaze and Grovyle settled enough to continue their discussion for a another moment.

"Either that bird's territory is huge, or it really _is_ following us," Sally said before a series of infernape yips interrupted, Blaze apparently giving an answer to her earlier question.

"The only things Blaze heard referred to as orbs were a Lustrous Orb and a Adamant Orb, which belonged to Palkia and Dialga," Lonny translated. "According to rumor, they increased their power somehow, but he and Grovyle are sure they never heard of anything like a Griseous Orb before."

"Griseous Orb…" Sally said, staring at the ground. "And ruler of Opposite."

"Clues," Leo said thoughtfully, settling back against some of the rumble as Ruby and Sally settled on either side of him. Then on a new realization: "Hold on; the inscription said 'use'…as in to be used by a certain Pokémon, like the other two orbs? I wonder if this orb is related to them, or if it's something completely different. But they're are on different worlds..."

"But Palkia can move between worlds easily enough," Sally said. "Even Dialga. In fact, didn't you say Kol gave you a little speech that in his people's history, Palkia moved his entire village to another world?"

"If he was telling the truth," Leo countered.

"He certainly came from another world, though."

Grovyle added something, Lonny translating: "If this orb does go with a Pokémon, it's probably a very powerful one like Dialga or Palkia. But the inscription said it might be used by those worthy enough, suggesting more than one."

Grovyle squawked again.

"Hey, I did translate it right! Quit complaining; you speak too formally sometimes."

"Perhaps more than Palkia and Dialga can use the other two orbs?"

Leo nodded at his wife's question in watching the two go back and forth a little, before feeling his wife tap him.

"How many circles were around the triangles of the two murals?" she asked. "Three, right? And weren't they the same colors?"

Leo made the connection instantly. "And three orbs."

Sally nodded.

He smiled, admiring her yet again. They now knew of _three_ orbs; there were also _three_ colored circles around the triangle they found in the island on the Poké world, and again inside this underground facility. One of those circles was black… "Blaze, what color were those two orbs, the Adamant and Lustrous?"

Both Lonny and Grovyle stopped arguing as Blaze yipped. Lonny translating: "He says only Dialga showed him his orb, and it was light blue."

"That matches two of the circles," Sally said, excitement growing in her tone.

Feeling his heart beginning to race at the implications, "Anyone want to bet the Lustrous orb is white?"

"The drawing on the walls, with those three circles…" Lonny said before Blaze yipped excitedly. Forming a frown on her light blue and green face: "How could this mean Dialga and Palkia might still be alive? All we did was find an orb that's…connected to another Pokémon? That's not Dialga or Palkia. And we don't even know which Pokémon this orb thing could possibly belong to, or even if it's still ali…" After grimacing briefly, "…around."

"The Ruler of Opposite," Sally provided. "Perhaps that's really its name?"

Grovyle opened his mouth in about to say something, but instead quickly turned his head away as if on sudden alert. Lonny tried to say something, but he held her quiet with a raised spread-claw hand.

Then Blaze put a hand to his ear, Ruby following suit.

Leo gave them a moment, then when about to ask what they heard, swore he heard something odd also.

"You hear that?" Sally whispered to him. "Sounds like it coming from the river. Almost like…a…motor…"

At that moment, a different sound came from the opposite direction, back around the hill. Something was moving fast through the forest and toward them, and his heart quicken yet again. Blaze's mane puffed as he and Grovyle took defensive positions around them, even Ruby putting herself in front of him and Sally as Lonny pointed her spear toward the rapidly growing sound.

Within seconds, the "something" could be seen through the trees and sparse undergrowth, something with a large green-brown body and an outline looking very much like a…

"Venusaur!" Lonny said urgently, but quietly.

Leo crouched, hoping it wasn't the same one that chased him, Blaze and Grovyle the other day. He guessed it was though, considering that they were still in the general area.

Through the undergrowth it plowed until stopping in a space that afforded it a good look at them. It stood, staring for a few seconds as made a panting sound…then moved its four legs in propelling itself forward once again…in the same direction as the skarmory a few moments before. But it alone was clearly not responsible for everything they were now hearing!

Other Pokémon soon became visible to them: many birds flying overhead of various Pokémon species, something looking like several stantlers bounding on the opposite side of them but not too close, an odd assortment of grass and ground types they could spot to various degrees through the trees…

And every single one was more or less heading toward the river.

"I'm getting a bad feeling about this," Lonny finally said after the apparent rush passed them by, with a apparent reinforcing squawk from Grovyle.

"Forest fire?" Sally asked, moving away to get a slightly better view around the hill behind them.

There wasn't any smoke to be smelled or visible in the sky through the tree branches, Leo noted. But the first sound, toward which all the Pokémon were rushing toward… "That definitely sounds like a motor…or engines. Multiple ones." And as soon as he said it, realized what that had to mean.

"Humans!" Lonny exclaimed.

Beside him, Ruby's eyes went wide as she put a hand on his back, hope clearly beaming as her yellow and red mane puffed.


	18. Chapter 18: Convergences

**Chapter XVIII: Convergences**

"Mountains," was Kol's only comment as Leo started taking in their surroundings after waking up, holding his head.

It had been the worst portal experience he'd ever had. Long, turbulent, and there had been simply no way he could remain conscious within it. Even Akri had blacked out and it took a bit of effort to wake him. Unfortunately Kol was already awake when he came to…or else the Pokémon-human hadn't blacked out in the first place. Either way, he felt prickly in realizing he'd been completely vulnerable to his former adversary for some unknown period of time, during which he could have done anything to him.

He was perfectly fine though, save for lingering nausea that was fast going away and a headache. Only now…he had no idea where they were, other than this likely being where Blaze, Grovyle, Lonny, Sally and his human self had been deposited.

Despite being a Pokémon, he was feeling quite cold with a stiff, raw wind blowing the already cold air over his blue skin and fins, rapidly ripping body heat from him. Kol looked equally chilled through his long pants and the jacket from his pack, and perhaps nearly frostbit, except his skin was normally pale.

Akri…well, he acted cold too in wrapping his tiny arms and tails around himself. He also looked preoccupied, gazing toward a distant part of the horizon devoid of mountains but filled with a green blanket of forest far below.

For the immediate area, there were no signs of any other Pokémon or humans. "They had to of been here," he mumbled, fighting his growing shivering to take a closer look around for anything left behind, rocks that may have been piled up for a fire or something, footprints even among the gravel and course soil. Yet there was nothing. Only a circle of larger rocks and some even larger flat stones seemingly marking the portal's exit location…with the same cursed sun symbol etched into them, partially buried. If they were put on this spot, it was easy to see why they didn't stay…even if the Granakri Pokémon wasn't after them!

Still, it wasn't what he had been hoping for at all. He'd hoped they would be near where the portal exited. Now…where were they? If they were still…

Again he caught himself. They had to be alive. He refused to believe otherwise!

"They're obviously gone now," Kol said after turning around, wrapping his jacket tighter around himself and gripping his cap against the wind. "Which is actually better than finding bodies here."

Leo whipped around to give the Pokémon-human a hard look. Yet Kol was right. There certainly had been the potential for the unthinkable right where they were standing with Granakri after them.

"So, where do you propose we go, swampert?" Kol asked. "Someplace warmer, I assume. Surely your friends would have done the same, unless they all had winter coats."

"They didn't," Leo admitted through a shivering jaw. It felt like the cold from his gills was transmitting straight to his brain! "We were dressed for the dessert." A white flake got his attention briefly as it floated past. Great. A cloud overhead was beginning to cause snow… Swamperts could take a lot of cold; this was clearly below that limit.

Kol smirked slightly. "Looks like you're freezing. Don't suppose you can do fire?"

"I'm a water type," he returned, stating what was surely obvious.

"Too bad."

He wanted to retort, but Kol hadn't made it sound anything other than disappointment, given how he grimaced and closed his eyes in bracing himself as another gust of wind blew around them. "You?"

The Pokémon-human shook his head quickly, almost like a quick shiver.

"Must go!" Akri suddenly let out in his high-pitched voice, twirling around to face both him and Kol.

"Yes, certainly!" Kol agreed. "Or else we activate the portal again and return. Assuming this spot is where we can do that…and that it's bidirectional."

With his tails, Akri pointed behind him to the arc of greenery in the distance, toward the southern tip of what was visible between the mountains. "They are there!"

Despite the cold, Leo moved quickly to where the Guardian was floating. "You know where they are? _Exactly?_"

"Think so!" Akri chimed.

Kol joining them, "_How?_"

"Just do." Without warning, the Azelf-like Pokémon twirled back around to start moving in the direction he had pointed…and at a good clip! "Follow!" his fading voice seemed to command.

"Hey!" Kol cried after the light blue Pokémon.

"Follow, follow!" Akri yelled, turning himself around without breaking his floating stride.

Leo took a starting leap after him, noting Kol was now running to keep up behind him…only to pass him a few moments later.

"Come on, swampert!" Kol yelled back.

"I'm running as fast as I can over these rocks!" he shouted back. These _freezing cold_ rocks, he was tempted to add. But it wasn't just the rocks or the cold…he just plain couldn't go as fast as either a floating Pokémon or a running human! Although he did try, even managing to keep up briefly through sheer determination as the flat-out running over flatter and less rocky areas got him warmed up…and by dropping to all fours. He didn't care what it took; if Akri claimed he knew where everyone was, well, that was more than he had before! The Azelf-like Pokémon did seem to have an uncanny way of just 'knowing' things…

Even so, he was falling behind again after a while, slipping on loose rocks several times as his breathing became extreme, muscles tired and heart pounded in his chest. And the dropping terrain was getting steeper!

Akri seemed to notice from up ahead: "Lazy…lazy…swampert…" the Guardian sang. "Must hurry, you!"

_Lazy?_ The crazy Pokémon was trying to kill him through exhaustion! Even Kol finally stopped, huffing greatly and bracing himself against a low boulder.

"You too, human-Pokémon person," Akri shouted.

"Damn it, climbing down…these rocks…is…hard for those…of us who…can't FLOAT!" Kol huffed out.

Leo mentally added his agreement, not wanting to spend breath in the now obviously thin air.

"Must hurry! Can't stop!" Akri shouted back, sounding more urgent as he stopped many meters down slope.

Leo rested next to Kol after slowly reaching him, completely winded. Although he wanted to get to his friends faster than anyone, immediately if it could be done, he didn't understand why the Guardian was making it sound so urgent. "Why…do we need…to hurry," asking with suspicion between labored breaths of frigid air that formed nice, white clouds.

Kol nodded, indicating apparently the same question.

Floating back upslope, "Your friends. In danger. Any time, in extreme danger. We must hurry!"

Leo felt his heart jump anew and nearly leapt back up if it wasn't for his legs already wobbly from exhaustion. "What danger?"

"How do you know this?" Kol insisted again.

"Just know."

Growling, "This is getting infur…"

"What is the danger?" Leo demanded.

But Akri shook his head. "Don't know. It just…I feel…they will need help."

"What is with this creature?" Kol hissed under his breath. "It keeps claiming to know things, but won't give any answers."

Leo was startled as Akri shot himself between them, placing hands on his gills. "They in extreme danger. Must not wait, must travel fast!"

"I'm tired, damnit!" Kol shouted. "And we're on the top of a mountain in case you haven't noticed!"

"I can't run anymore," Leo admitted. Even several oran berries wouldn't help for more than a short way of what looked like a long way down. "How far are they?"

"Very far," Akri said with a note of sadness. Then quickly floating up several feet, the Azelf-like Pokémon just closed his eyes.

He knew that look and almost wasn't surprised when he could no longer feel the gravel underneath his cold-stiffened feet.

Kol yelled.

With a smirk, he watched the Pokémon-human move his legs in mid air, looking anything but comfortable. So did this mean Akri was going to…

In seconds, he was flying beside Kol at a rate faster than he ever thought was possible down the mountainous terrain. It was actually relaxing, save for the now extreme blast of cold air he was getting! At least the obviously warmer air of the lower altitudes was waiting for them…if his fins and gills…and feet and hands…and everything else didn't freeze solid before they reached it!

He forced his own discomfort and shivering from his mind, though. The important thing was Blaze, Grovyle, Lonny, Sally and his human self. His heart still was pounding, not from exhaustion anymore, but out of fear for his dearest friends and lover. "Extreme danger"…sounded bad.

* * *

"What the heck was…"

"A thunderbolt," Leo Hanson answered his wife as Ruby's excitement evaporated, her infernape expression becoming worried. A few seconds later, another bright yellow-white bolt of electricity shot into the air, again visible through all the tree branches, leaves and the daytime sun. All the while, the sound of the motors or engines got just a little louder, before stopping.

"Could those be boat engines?"

Grovyle seemed to answer Sally this time, but Lonny didn't translate as another, different-colored beam shot into the air at a different angle.

"Hyperbeam?" Lonny said high-pitched, climbing up one of the larger surrounding rubble mounds in apparently getting a better look.

Which meant…there was a rather powerful Pokémon over there… "Has to be a battle going on," Leo said in joining the former swampert on the mound, quickly grabbing her shoulder after nearly losing his balance. Sounds of more creatures rushing through the forest came from behind and around the large hill, eventually passing nearly out of sight. The only glimpse was something grayish with a horn. Followed closely by more birds streaking overhead, again toward the river. Joining the battle?

"Humans fighting Pokémon?" Sally asked, staying below as the sound of unleashed attacks seemed to creep a little closer, as did the distant squawks and cries of various Pokémon.

Blaze and Grovyle each were sounding increasingly agitated and animated in speaking to each other…then abruptly stopped.

At once, Ruby cocked her head.

"Hey…I hear human voices," Lonny said quickly. "They're shouting!"

"He he!" Blaze yipped excitedly, pointing.

"Of course people would still be around somewhere on this planet!" Sally exclaimed. "Think of how advanced they must be by now; we could be going home soon!"

Leo looked down at her, returning her grin…before flinching enough to nearly fall at the sound of a machine gun! More shouts in the distance followed it up. "What the…"

Grovyle leapt partly up the rubble where he froze, peering toward the sound. Except for his shivering tail and head leaves.

Through his tightened grip on Lonny's shoulder, Leo felt her shake too as she visibly tightened her own grip on her spear. Then came a sound…like a tree falling? First an explosion, then cracking of wood, followed by the loud rustle of leaves, branches colliding…Pokémon squawking...

"There!" Lonny shouted, pointing a light-blue finger straight toward the river.

Through all the trunks and branches, there just could be seen movement: a mass of leaves coming down. Even before the sound of the falling tree died down, several Pokémon came running back through the forest, dodging wildly around trees in their rush to get away.

The sounds and light of more attacks flickered through the diffusing effect of the forest, several Pokémon screams, another explosion…another tree was starting to fall somewhere, not really visible.

Below, Blaze nearly jumped at the sound of another burst of gunfire, his red and yellow mane puffing even more as his tail became stiffer. Ruby didn't look much better, but started scrambling up the mound behind Grovyle.

With a screech, a bird came diving from above, quickly disappearing into the canopy. A couple seconds later, came several electrical bolts…and more gunfire, seemingly from the same spot.

"I think they're coming this way," Sally said, backing up behind the mound and reaching to yank Blaze with her. "We should hide, now! Come on you guys, get down off there!"

He wasn't going to argue, feeling increasing unnerved himself, but felt hands on him anyway. Both Ruby and Grovyle helped him down as Lonny made her own way. Soon he was sharing room with everyone else behind the mound while wrapping his arms around his wife protectively (with Ruby right beside), as more and more Pokémon came tearing through the forest, all acting completely terrified.

"Clear…away!" came a somewhat unclear voice through the trees, just before a hyperbeam briefly appeared just above the trees. The cry of some Pokémon that followed was very clear, though. He felt his heart jump as a golden skarmory floated overhead seconds later, obviously hurt as it struggled to flap it's wings…

Even before that was over, a white flash lit up the forest; a tree just within sight splintered in a hail of fragments and started falling. Near it, an off-color venusaur and nidoking came limping away, each supporting the other, struggling to get away as flames lit up through the trees in the distance.

"Those bastards…" Sally said under her breath.

Her words were angry, but she was trembling in his arms…and not all the shaking was hers. So was he…as was Ruby, huddled tight against him!

"I see movement," Lonny hissed from the other side of the mound. "More Pokémon…and humans!"

Shouts, mostly barked orders, came from quite close along with the sounds of heavy boots pounding the ground in obvious run. Then…

"Down!" Lonny breathed, motioning the same.

With a few small intervening shrubs helping to hide them around the ancient rubble, several heavily armed humans, dressed in green camouflage, came into view a dozen meters away. Along with several Pokémon of various types including a arcanine, machoke, breloom, drapion, a couple of ambipoms, and others of unrecognizable types, they took a seemingly defensive posture in a line, facing the hill.

"Sir, we've arrived at the landmark," one of the humans said in a normal, but forceful voice. "All the attacking Pokémon appear to be gone." It was a moment, but another human came into view, dressed in distinctly different light-blue garb. And…he looked…familiar? Long, white hair, pale complexion, an almost boyish face…

K…Kol? _Here?_ But how?

Leo heard Sally quietly gasp and he only barely contained his. In front, Blaze and Grovyle visibly flinched. And if Blaze's mane got any puffier… But after a few pounds of his heart, he could see this hybrid looked older with a few wrinkles, face a little thinner. So he _wasn't_ Kol, but his heart still threatened to jump out of his chest. Wait…back on Fore-Nine island, Kol said there were others like him…but they were also on…

…a different planet…!

_Were they on Kol's planet?_

Feeling Ruby gripping the back of his shirt tightly, he couldn't make himself move at all to comfort either her or his wife...

"Well Lieutenant, what do you sense?" the obviously different hybrid asked someone behind him in a deeper, but softer voice than Kol ever had.

Into view appeared a younger-looking and slightly shorter, pale-faced man as he walked up beside the first. In a higher-pitched voice: "I think from the resistance of the native Pokémon, we're in the right place. And…" His face wrinkled up slightly as he paused. "…that we missed some!" Whipping around, he pointed directly at the rubble mound!

Leo's heart stopped in panic.

"Very good," the first hybrid said as the line of Pokémon and humans suddenly kneeled or laid down. Spreading an arm wide, his hand began glowing before with a quick swipe, he released the white arc of a now-familiar Spacial Rend…

…directly toward the mound…

"Down!" Leo screamed, praying everyone could get underneath the spreading arc as he laid on top of Sally to protect her. The ground flashed white as the arc seemingly passed well above, missing most of the rubble, but impacting a tree only a few meters behind. Wood splinters rained down against his back as he kept his eyes closed, hearing only the unwelcomed sound of a tree cracking and beginning to fall…

* * *

The Akri Pokémon was nearing its limit. Kol wasn't sure how long it'd been psychically "flying" them, but the little Pokémon that had a resemblance to the Azelf Pokémon had a depth of energy that surprised him, carrying them far longer than he thought possible. Of course he'd seen very little of its capability, but clearly it could be formidable if it wanted to be! Still, according to the swampert, even it didn't have the power to open the portal. Only he possessed that.

As did Granakri, apparently. Or some Pokémon that looked like him.

He was jolted from his thoughts while suddenly falling from tree-top level to just above the jungle floor…then dropped the last meter to the ground a moment later…straight into some thick-stalked plant! It hurt, and he let off several curses he had in mind. At least it was a lot warmer being jungle-like forest now, and he could finally remove his jacket.

"Akri!"

At the swampert's shout, he crashed through the plant with some alarm to join Leo and the collapsed Pokémon on the ground. "Did he just fall?" As Leo nodded and picked up the limp creature to cradle it in his arms, it's two tails hanging listlessly, Kol noted how…frail it looked in the swampert's large blue arms. Obviously weak, it did try to speak.

"Tired… Must…hurry…"

Again, the theme of hurrying. What was this danger Leo's friends were in anyway? There were actually at least two he could immediately think of, and in the case of one of those, there was probably little he could do!

"How far are they?" Leo asked in a whisper, using a finger to gently stroke the head of the little Pokémon.

With a quick look around, Kol could see no sign of anyone else, and the only noises were presumably those of the jungle's normal inhabitants. So he guessed they weren't close. But…he wasn't limited by just five senses. There _was_ something…

"How far?" Leo repeated, somewhat urgently.

Akri's tiny lips barely moved. "Too far…"

"We're on foot until he recovers," Kol decided, assuming the swampert would want to cover as much distance as possible instead of waiting around. "He used all his energy by the look of it. He's probably going to be…out for a…" The swampert's sudden setting down of Akri and unstrapping of his custom pack as if planning to stay for a while stopped him in mid sentence. "What are you doing?" After some digging around with his large three-fingered hand, the swampert took out what looked like a yellow sitrus fruit and a small knife…and thrust out both to him.

"Cut the sitrus into little chucks so he can eat them easily," Leo instructed.

"I didn't know you had sitrus fruits with you," Kol said, taking the items. Well, at least the swampert was trusting him with a knife!

"Was it important?" Leo replied, picking Akri back up and sounding somewhat suspicious.

"No," Kol returned flatly. One by one, he begun slicing off tiny chucks to match the size of Akri's mouth, the swampert then feeding each to the so-called Guardian. Still, it would have been nice to know he could easily recoup some energy from the fast-acting drugs in them if the need arose. Not that he was telling Leo everything either. Not that it was all that much… His psychic sense was only _just_ sensing it…much like when he had initially sensed Dialga's and Palkia's approach to the University lab a year and a half before…

…but these sources weren't moving like that, and he hoped his sense was just playing tricks on him. If not, well, his sense had always been a bit better than anyone else's, so they probably didn't sense him yet. But not by much.

"Come on Akri, hurry and eat this. You need to get your energy back!" Leo said, obviously impatient.

Akri seemed to mumble something before coughing a couple times.

"Give him a chance!" Kol urged, withholding the next piece until the Pokémon recovered enough to accept the next tiny chuck of yellowish fruit. He did sympathize with the swampert urgency, though. More than once in an operation, he well knew of the need to hurry to save someone, frequently a human, who had become too much of a pain to his government and thus was marked for…disappearance. One of them…even meant something to him. He'd been late on that occasion, the first occasion…

…and after that, his path in life had been decided.

Akri's consumption of the fruit soon quickened, until the little Pokémon grabbed the remaining fruit from his hand to devour it!

Springing up out of Leo's arm: "Comeon! Wemustgonow!"

Without waiting for a reply, the Azelf-like Pokémon instantly had his eyes closed and nearly as quick, both he and the swampert were floating disconcertingly above the trees again. Apparently, it now had far more energy than it could handle!

Then for good or bad, they were back on their path to whatever was waiting.

* * *

Leo was feeling more and more impatient. It'd been near two weeks since being separated from his dearest friend Blaze, mate Lonny, mate in his former life Sally, Grovyle and his human self. Sure, the ache in his heart had died _slightly_, but there remained a large hole. They were all part of him, and they had been forcibly taken from him in a single terrible moment.

He was also fearful. Were they _all_ still alive? If Akri's "knowledge" was accurate, he was about to find out; he didn't care how the Guardian knew, just if it was true! Mentally, he was already rehearsing just what he would do and say to each of them. Assuming he didn't weep first, Grovyle would get a hug. So would Sally, he thought with a smile. Lonny was going to get the greatest hug for sure. His human self, um…a clasp and pat on the back? Finally for Blaze…

What would he do for his infernape partner, who'd been with him through the best and very worst of times, never once faltering in his belief in him? A mere hug seemed…inadequate.

As the trees continued flying past just underneath his feet, he tried to relax and enjoy the warm air rushing past and all the exotic scents it carried, now being well into jungle. A break in the forest to their left seemed to be a river, which they had more or less been following for a while, and being further evidence of the rain endowed terrain. Indeed, the moisture that was steadily rising and just starting to form clouds high above under the afternoon sun agreed with his skin nicely. And although his fins still were stinging slightly, perhaps from a touch of frost-bite, they otherwise were acting as heat dumps; it felt good in the warm, humid air.

He didn't spare but a moment's thought on all that, though. He wanted them to go faster, to hurry….hurry and meet this danger Akri was worried about. Worried enough that it was setting his own nerves on edge. Knowing he couldn't do anything until they got there, he tried again not thinking about what might be happening. And failed.

Whatever the danger though, with both Akri and Kol along it was hard to image what they couldn't overcome…with one exception: Granakri. Having experienced its power first hand, there was no doubt the Pokémon would be very tough to beat. Considering even Kol sounded apprehensive about it, he really hoped that wasn't what the danger was.

Another possibility occurring to him in the continuing blast of warm air in his face, was Kol said his own people were also looking for what the sun-like symbol represented. Kol's kind didn't have the ability to teleport though, not between worlds. He had said as much back on Fore-Nine island too, and was the entire point of the second dimensional gate he had built. Unless…they had spacecraft, like what certain clefables were rumored to have.

So it couldn't be Kol's kind here…

The shock moved through his body as well as any thunderbolt. With a sidelong glance, he quietly observed Kol "flying" a couple meters from him, just behind Akri. Could they be on _his_ planet?

The Pokémon-human hadn't shown any signs of recognizing the area, but surely he didn't know every area of his planet. Just like no Pokémon on the Poké world knew every part of their world, or any single human knew every area of Earth.

Unless he was being deceptive.

Yet Akri still seemed to trust him.

Well, when they got to their destination, he was going to ask him point-blank if they were on his world, just in case. Until then, unless Akri said more about the danger his friends were facing, there was just no sense getting himself any more worked up.

Ha! Fine in theory! His heart rate refused to calm much, nor could he stop clenching his jaw or let his hands relax. It was incredibly upsetting to be helpless while those you cared deeply about needed help, perhaps desperately!

With some shock, he suddenly realized Akri was shouting.

"There!" With his small, short arm, he pointed ahead toward a large hill with a partial cliff on the horizon. "We go!"

The small drop in their flying height was ample warning the Guardian had broke his concentration some to give them that indication, and Leo didn't want to further that by asking him anything, considering they were going at least as fast as a speeding human car!

"Finally," was Kol's only response through the arm he was holding in front of his face.

His heart pounded with overwhelming anticipation and trepidation as Akri slowed them, looked over the area around the hill facing the river some distance away, then set them in a small clearing, close to a large mound of moss-covered rocks. Adding to his growing foreboding, it was immediately apparent something had recently happened. Several trees looked felled (one creating the clearing), almost like their trunks had exploded. But there was no sign of anyone around.

"Blaze! Grovyle! Lonny!" He waited, nearly holding his breath in listening for any response, however faint. After many seconds…nothing. He rushed into the nearby trees and bushes, but there was no movement…or bodies, at least.

Was Akri wrong? Or were they too late?

Kol moved past him, going to the nearest felled tree and seemed to examine where the trunk had splintered. Although still looking for any sign of the others, he now paid the shattered stump a bit more attention since the Pokémon-human seemed interested in it. With a slightly closer look, it did look partially cut before it became jagged.

Whatever that meant. Returning to where Akri was floating in the middle of the clearing, "Where are they? There's no one here!"

Akri didn't answer, but twisted his tails together and frowned in turning this way and that, seemingly looking.

Noticing the partly open hole in the side of the hill for the first time, "Are they in there?" Leo shouted, pointing. Without waiting for an answer, he moved for it.

"I…they were," Akri answered, furrowing his light blue forehead. "Not anymore."

He stopped, noting Kol was giving the Guardian attention again. "Where? Do you know?"

After a moment of eyes-closed apparent concentration: "We too long. They all further, down river. Grassland, near desert. Not far still."

"He might be right," Kol said. "It looks like a large group moved through here."

Following Kol's point, Leo saw what seemed a trampled path leaving away, toward the river.

"Maybe they traveled by the river," Kol furthered, "in which case, they would still be near it."

Leo faced the Guardian again; the distraught expression on the Azelf-like Pokémon's face was unmistakable, as well as his fatigue. Still: "Then can you take us?"

"I think he needs some more sitrus," Kol suggested.

Akri nodded at that before lowering himself to the ground and standing on his own legs. "I'm sorry."

For the hundredth time, Leo had to check himself. He was pushing him too hard. Had been ever since they arrived on this world. "No, I'm sorry. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be even close to finding them." Reaching down, he gave the small Azelf-like Pokémon a gentle pat on his head.

But he couldn't suppress his still growing impatience while waiting for Kol to slice off more chucks of another sitrus. It didn't help either as the Pokémon-human mentioned he thought a battle had taken place there. At least it didn't take an entire fruit before the Guardian was ready to go, although the sun was already past it's zenith by perhaps a good three or four hours by the time they were floated back up into the air for the third time that day.

* * *

By the time Akri landed them, Kol had a growing knot in his stomach. Now again "flying" toward where Leo's friends were, it was turning into a large pit. One or more of his kind _were_ here! Did they sense him too?

Although doing everything he could to suppress his telepathic signature, they were likely going to sense him soon if not already. And suppression was really more "voodoo" art than science anyway, although he was sure it saved him in more than once.

Something he was more certain of was whomever of his kind was here, they weren't friendly. Other than himself, scarcely a handful felt the way he did. Against several hundred other human-Pokémon hybrids who were the government, his tiny group had always been forced to the shadows. And with his capture, he was sure their plight had become quite desperate.

In any case, it posed a major question, that being how did others of his kind get to this planet? Surely they hadn't also used the portal? Which of course would of meant getting to the Poké world first.

Below, the trees were becoming scarce on the mostly flat plain stretching out ahead in the late afternoon sun. The river became more visible and started taking on the look of a wide, glowing, gently curved snake. Further ahead and beyond the ridge of perhaps the last substantial hill for some distance, there looked to be a large camp at the river's edge not that far beyond…

"Akri, land us behind this hill right now!" he half-shouted for fear of it carrying too far. "Hurry!"

His heart racing, he felt relieved as Akri did land them (hard) just behind the crest. Or really a controlled crash, making him and the swampert stumble and regret apparently startling the small Pokémon. It would have been hell if he twisted an ankle as a result! Yet landing in that camp would have been far worse, he strongly suspected.

"We almost there!" Akri said quickly, rising up to apparently look over the top of the grassy hill.

The swampert likewise climbed up to look over. "Why are we stopping here? Who's camp is that? I see humans down there. Are they the danger?"

Kol joined them after briefly testing his ankle. Then getting a better look over the crest, the camp appeared as a half-dozen large green-cloth tents arraigned semi-circle near the river's edge, with a couple large flat-bottom boats run up on the bank. Seven open-top cargo vehicles were parked, and around three dozen camo-dressed humans were moving about, some handling crates, others relaxing, others toting weapons on apparent guard duty. Even a handful of Pokémon were around, apparently helping to either guard or move things around. Given the human's dress, it was obvious they were military. Or special forces. But it was too far to really identify if they were from his world.

But there was something else that did. Or someone. All his focus went to the pale-skinned humanoid dressed in light blue with long, white hair. The man was turning his head about, as if looking for something.

Even at their distance, he looked familiar.

* * *

Leo planted his head on the ground, hoping the grasses would hide his head fins, as a chill went through his body. The one human…even at their several-hundred meter distance, looked just like…

As Kol joined him in flattening himself in the grasses: "Yes, they're probably in danger with my kind down there."

He moved his head enough to fix his eyes on the Pokémon-human next to him. If anything, he had been half expecting to see the Pokémon Granakri, not more of Kol's kind! "How are they here?" At once, a horrid thought came to him: "Are we on _your_ planet?"

Kol huffed. "My planet only has one moon."

Following his gesture, Leo looked up, seeing the faint outline of one moon overhead, and another just rising to the east almost behind them, opposite the setting sun.

"I don't know where we are, or how _that_ man got here," Kol continued. "But remember that I mentioned my government appeared to be looking for whatever that symbol was connected to? I assume that's why they're here."

"But why are Blaze, Lonny and everyone else there too?" directing the question more toward Akri, barely visible in the grasses beside him. "Or maybe they aren't?" More than ever, he seriously hoped the Guardian was wrong.

The grass rustled and parted as the Azelf-like Pokémon floated low through them to get closer. "Your friends down there," he whispered. "Certain."

"I don't see them," Kol provided after sitting up a little. "They must be in one of those tents. And I'm betting the large one he just went into."

Leo felt too tired and suddenly too angry to be denied rescuing everyone by any of Kol's kind! Not this damned close! But not so much that he didn't notice the look on Kol's face practically screaming there was something troubling him, something he wasn't telling. Actually…Kol had showed no hint of surprise at the appearance of one of his kind! "When did you know?"

"Know what?" Kol returned flatly.

"That more of your kind were here?"

The Pokémon-human lowered himself back down with a sigh. "I started sensing them a couple hours ago, although I hoped I was wrong."

Although he wanted to ask why in Dark Crater he hadn't said anything, he decided to maintain his composure and focus on the task at hand. "Just one?" If there were more than one, even with Kol helping, it could get very…interesting. And presumably, Blaze and the others were not there voluntarily…unless…

"At least two, I think," Kol's face scrunching in apparent concentration.

"Any chance they're friendly? Like you, I guess."

Kol's eyes widened while his thin lips curled into something resembling mirth in clearly suppressing a laugh. "No chance. That is General Enpersen down there; he's the one who captured me eight years ago! And another thing I should tell you, they most certainly can sense me too, so they know another of their kind is close." Forming a fist, "Of all the hybrids that could be here, why the hell the General himself?"

Alright, so Kol had a history with one of them. But if he could take the General whoever, that left at least another that had to be dealt with. One thing he really didn't want to do was intercept another Roar of Time; he barely survived the last one! But if that's what it took to rescue his dearest friends and mate, that's what he would do! And seeing Akri's face was all he needed to know the Guardian was equally determined, his light green eyes narrowed as he floated a couple feet up, looking over the ridge again….with an expression tinged with…anger?

Catching something moving from the corner of his eye, Leo whipped about to witness a large, strange golden skarmory leave one of the few large trees behind them and start hugging the ground in its fast flight, grasses swaying behind its path straight at them!


	19. Chapter 19: Longer Shot

_Thanks Lexxang for your comment!_

_This chapter marks a number of things getting revealed. Of course, not everything is. :)_

* * *

**Chapter XIX: Longer Shot**

Lonny became conscious enough to know she was no longer in the forest. Memory also was returning, that of humans and Pokémon surrounding them…and of the purple, acid-rancid-smelling sleep powder a breloom released at the commend of the pale-skinned human referred to as "General".

It took a good moment for her eyes to focus after opening them. It wasn't bright, like they were outside, but more like…

…in a large tent! And the first thing she saw was that damned breloom standing near the flaps.

Other then herself, Blaze and Grovyle also seemed to be awake, while the human Leo, Sally and Ruby were still out. Two rather strong-looking humans were sitting at a table watching them, both armed with human weapons.

"Well, the strange one is awake," one said with a smile in a strange accent, though his voice held clear edge to it.

She didn't feel inclined to respond, but did start gathering herself in an effort to sit up.

"Don't move too much, or that breloom will put you out again," Grovyle said quietly. "Or those humans will shoot you. Or both."

"Yeah, they aren't too friendly," Blaze mumbled, rubbing what looked like a small cut on his red-skinned brow ridge.

"You fire types always trouble!" the breloom said with a scowl under its mushroom-shaped head cap, and in a dialect not unlike Ruby's. "It took two powders to make you all sleep! Give me any more trouble, I use poison!"

Blaze shaped his mouth as if about to release some flames, but the sudden shifting of the humans and their weapons made him stop dead.

The breloom was quickly wagging a claw. "Not funny. You do wrong, you hope it's _only_ me that punishes!" Stretching an arm, it pointed to the two humans.

On the other side of the tent, a large arcanine let out a quick growl next to a nidoking, graveler, and a poliwhirl, all having somewhat "off" colors. "That'd be too bad if you got killed; I had something else planned, little fire monkey," the arcanine said. Her creamed haired face spread into a smile, but with her pointed teeth showing, it was hard to get the real intent.

Blaze narrowed his yellow and blue eyes, though managed to keep his tail still. Carefully, he brushed back part of his mane that'd crept over one ear.

Almost sounded like the normal banter that usually went back and forth between Pokémon just before a battle, Lonny thought. But still feeling groggy, she only watched with mental detachment. Damned sleep powder. At least everyone looked mostly unhurt; but where were they?

"How do you feel?" Blaze asked as he slowly turned his body to face her more in his knees-drawn up position.

"I think they took us to some kind of encampment," Grovyle provided.

"Alright, that's enough!" the other human barked. "You Pokémon and you blue-skinned woman: keep quiet!"

She had been about to answer "sleepy". How else? And thirsty. Right…sleep powder, when inhaled, left a dry feeling in one's throat. Something that when she was a swampert, she really hated. Still did. "How about some water?" she asked aloud and in human speak so the two armed humans would understand. Underscoring the point, she moved her tongue around in the universal gesture of thirst.

The second human sighed with obvious annoyance, and just as Leo started showing signs of life next to her, he finally stood up, showing he was fairly tall as well as well-muscled. "Fine. You're all waking up anyway. I think they have some questions for you, so you better finish waking up quickly." With that, the human male stepped out, boots clumping even on the well-trampled grassy ground.

"Heh, it's time for Master to talk to you," the arcanine said. This time, she wasn't smiling.

Grovyle sighed, but moved to put a hand on Leo's and Sally's shoulders, the first finally opening his eyes. Beside him, Blaze did the same but took Leo's hand in his while giving the arcanine a stare.

"He your master?" the large, thick-haired fire dog asked.

"Partner," Blaze whispered back, seemingly mindful of the remaining human.

Lonny guessed who the arcanine's Master was. That General human…person, with the weirdly pale skin and long white hair. Before he had all them put to sleep, she noted it somehow struck her as familiar. In another moment, she finally remembered a description of someone like that. Her Leo described Kol as having pale skin, a young face, and long, white hair. But Kol was on Earth, although he supposedly was part of a species of…what was the word? Genetically...something. The same thing Ruby was, she guessed. Not that she really understood all that, but she got the jist. Kol had some of the abilities of both Dialga and Palkia.

These two pale humans likely had the same if their similar looks meant anything. The one certainly had the Spacial Rend ability!

Perhaps it was best that her Leo wasn't here after all.

* * *

Leo Hanson noticed several things at once…once he was able to focus. A green canvas-like cloth high above, Grovyle's green head directly above and behind with his head leaf dropping over one shoulder, and Blaze practically over his face, his long red and yellow mane spread out behind his head to fall partly over both shoulders and to his own shoulders. The infernape said something quietly, and he looked…concerned. Even fearful.

Not that Grovyle looked much calmer. Which was unusual for his old partner.

Hearing a soft moan, he found his wife lying beside him…as well as a arcanine and three other Pokémon sitting only a few feet beyond her. The size of it shocked him some, but it only seemed to be watching.

Right…they were surrounded by people and Pokémon before there was some powdery mist…sleep powder.

Kol's kind. They were captured by them! And perhaps on their planet!

Blaze helped him sit up, Grovyle doing the same for Sally, and immediately saw the camouflaged human on a chair in front of him. A look around confirmed they were in a large tent…and all present, Lonny being behind him and Ruby next to her, apparently just waking up herself. A breloom stood by the door flaps, watching them intently.

After putting a hand on his wife's shoulder: "Where are we?" he asked the camouflage-dressed man, certain his sleepiness was hiding his fear for the moment as Sally leaned against him, clearly still half out of it.

The man scowled. With a voice that conveyed little emotion: "You're in our camp; we brought here after you were knocked out." And just as the tent flap opened to let in some blinding low-angle sunlight: "I better get you something better to wake up with than water; you have a lot of questions to answer." The man got up as two others came in: another soldier, and…one of Kol's kind. The one who unleashed a Spacial Rend above their heads, in particular!

This seemingly older hybrid took the leaving man's place on the chair, leaned back a little and crossed his legs. Thus he silently remained a good half minute, unnervingly moving his pale blue eyes from him to Sally, and then to each of the Pokémon and Lonny.

He really wanted to further his question with why they were there, but even in his half-awake state, figured he better not. No, let this presumed human-Pokémon hybrid make the first move, but the man's stare was getting to him. Thankfully it was interrupted by the one man returning with a canteen and several paper cups. Together, he and the other "normal" human filled the cups and passed them out.

"Drink," was the singular command. "It'll wake you up faster."

Leo took the first sip…and sat upright immediately. Hot, spicy, and the jolt came in mere seconds; far more potent than caffeine! He coughed as his heart started pounding and in less than a minute, Sally, Lonny and the Pokémon were also bolt-upright!

Ruby started to say something, but the same man who barked the drink order, barked for her to be quiet. The female infernape let out an "Eep!" in response as she closed her mouth.

"Well, now that you've all recovered," the hybrid finally spoke with a deep inhale as he adjusted his long, light-blue robe, "it would be rude if I didn't introduce myself first. I'm General Makon Enpersen. Now, you will tell me who you are, and more importantly, _where_ you are from and how you came into possession of the Griseous Orb."

From the man's pointing finger, the question was meant for him to answer. As his heart continued to pound (whether from fear or the wake-up broth), he decided to take a small risk. Speaking carefully: "Can I ask where we are first?" One of the two soldiers started to make a move for him, but was stopped by a raised arm from the General. "Are we on…your planet?" he nearly choked out in finishing the question, feeling Sally squeeze his arm. Although what difference did it really make, he thought immediately after.

"Hm, hm, hm," the General almost hummed, tapping his fingers against the side of his dark brown boot. "_My_ planet? That's an interesting way of putting it. I take it to mean are we on my planet of origin?"

Leo nodded. Why was the man looking bemused?

"No. We're on a different planet and I will tell you, we weren't expecting to find humans here, especially those with some means of technology as your manufactured possessions suggest. Your solar flashlight suggests quite advanced technology. But there supposedly haven't been humans on this planet for several millennia." Leaning forward as he again moved his eyes to each of them: "Now, not to frighten you too much, but the only reasons you haven't been killed already is one, I want to know where you came from and two, why and how you had the Griseous Orb in your possession. After that, I'll decide your fate depending on how I feel, so I advise you not to make me too angry." In the subdued light of the tent, he formed a disarming smile on his pale face and thin lips. On either side of him, the soldiers showed no reaction. "But I will save you a little explaining, in that it's obvious you aren't native to this planet either. So add to the list of questions you will answer, how did you get here?"

To buy a little time for getting his wits together, he started by introducing both himself and his wife, then Lonny and moving to the Pokémon…

"I don't care about your Pokémon!" the General snapped, waving his hand dismissively. "Where are you from?"

Leo recoiled from the snap and Sally gripped him even tighter. With the soldiers quickly leveling guns at them, he saw Ruby crawl the few feet to plaster herself against his side opposite Sally, forcing Blaze to lean out of the way. Without even seeing her face, he felt her fear through her trembling, though her face wasn't so much staring at the humans as the four large Pokémon at the back of the tent. Which seemed to leave the nidoking quietly snickering.

Wrapping a protective arm around her too, it was clear she was certainly still scared of other Pokémon, Blaze and Grovyle being the only others she had grown used to. He could only spare her secondary attention though. Before the hybrid lost any more patience: "Earth." Surely they already knew about it, having sent Kol there…assuming his species was unified. If pressed, he would mention the Poké world but if at all possible, he resolved not to!

"As I thought," the General sighed. "Then you might know of an individual named Kol, who looks much as I do."

Leo glanced at his wife's face, but before he could answer the General started laughing.

"From your reaction, I see that you do! Not that it matters much, except that you then may be familiar with the abilities my kind possess." After a moment: "So the next question is, how did you get here? I already know there's only one portal to this world, and it's not on Earth nor on my own planet. And whatever transport technology your world has, which I believe is dimensional gate technology, you would have had to be incredibly lucky to find this planet. And even then, it may not have even worked for this place, considering."

He wasn't so addled by fear that he didn't catch something. "Considering what?"

"So you don't even know that? No matter. Again, how did you get here?"

"Perhaps by the same way you got here," Sally answered quietly.

Which was exactly his own thought. He expected to be hit, judging by the looks of the two soldiers.

Instead, the General chuckled. "Oh…I doubt that. Now, before I get angry, you will answer the question, and I will know if you're lying."

Leo felt the warmth and hairiness of Ruby pressing closer against him while Sally did likewise, and he swore Blaze gulped behind them.

* * *

The skarmory was wounded, with a gap in its oddly golden metallic feathers on one wing and a gash on its body that had oozed red blood, staining it's hard feathery coat. Even so, it was apparent it could still be a formable opponent…if it had chosen to fight instead of landing only few meters below them on the slope.

"Friends!" Akri quickly declared with tiny arms spread. "We friends!"

His fins felt prickly as Leo remained still, staring at the bird Pokémon that was also clearly larger than normal (at least for Earth or the Poké world), while the bird moved its head back and forth in perhaps considering them. "What do you want?" he finally asked.

"You…seek…others?" it asked in a quiet, squawky voice.

It took him a few seconds to fully understand a couple of it's words, it's dialect being different from all other Pokémon speech he'd ever heard. Of course, they were on a different planet (which didn't carry the impact for him as it might have once had).

"Depends on what others you refer to," Kol responded after apparently needing a moment himself.

The skarmory gave the Pokémon-human a suddenly more critical look with its sharp, black eyes. "You, like…below? Like those with…skin, white hair?"

The hybrid grimaced. "You mean the same species? Yes."

"They refuse to leave! Attack me, attack us!" Spreading its large wings, it looked about to launch an attack of its own in sudden agitation!

"We're not here to attack anyone!" Leo said quickly with his large hands outstretched. Having to fight here would be especially bad, considering who the ruckus would attract!

"This one not like them!" Akri urgently added with a point to Kol. "He better!"

"Right!" Leo supported, although not exactly sure what the others of Kol's kind were actually like except for what Kol already claimed. "We're here to rescue…three humans…" He nearly said two, but had to remember Lonny was pretty much human now! "…an infernape and a grovyle." The gaze the bird fixed on him next unnerved him, but he fought to not show any emotion. He had to sound as sincere as possible. "And one of those humans has light blue skin with green patches and small head fins."

The bird seemed to sigh, drooping it's head and folding its large wings back to its body. In fact, it's entire demeanor appeared to change in that span, becoming much less hostile appearing. With a now pained look, it settled down in front of them to sit as well as a bird could. With head more-or-less level with theirs: "I believe you," with a look toward Akri. "I have watched…the last days. I believe they are the ones, and they need help, but we were unable to drive the others away."

"What are you talking about?" Kol asked. "What happened here?"

"You believe they are the _ones?_" Leo repeated. "What does that mean?" All at once though, he remembered his manners, and introduced Akri, Kol and himself.

"I'm Uononi," the skarmory returned, the most powerful of my flock, and the one currently charged with guarding the sacred site and its treasure."

"Treasure?" Leo asked before giving his head a shake. "Look, I don't care about that. I just need to rescue my friends and take them back to…where we belong." Mentioning they were from a different world might be a mistake, at least until he knew more about this Pokémon!

"…treasure is why they are here!" Uononi squawked back. "The old prophecy speaks of such humans and Pokémon claiming the treasure! That's why I…allow them pass into the…area. Three humans, one with blue skin, two infernapes, and one green grass-type Pokémon were to come and claim the treasure, although it was never said when. It had been a very long wait over many, many generations!"

Clearly the bird acted and sounded excited about this, but there was one thing wrong with its picture: "But there's only one infernape. His name is Blaze and he's my partner that I was separated from a while ago." Leo watched, not really knowing what response he'd get back. Clearly, two infernapes would mean this wasn't his group…although how many blue humans were around anyway?

"I know what infernapes look like and there were _two!_" the skarmory snipped. "My eyes are still sharp!"

"So your friends acquired another infernape it seems," Kol said flatly. "Good for them."

Which seemed the most desirable answer.

"Humans have not been here for a very long time. These ones matched what was said, there was no mistaking they are the ones! But another group had shown up days ago; invaded this area. They stole the treasure from them!"

Alright, obviously this treasure was important for some reason, Leo thought.

And given how a number of things had already been predicted about him, his other self, Lonny, Blaze, Sally and Grovyle, he almost wasn't surprised to hear there was something else yet involving them! But something else struck him: "Wasn't there supposed to be a swampert in that group? Among the ones in that…prophecy?"

The bird eyed him as it seemed to calm itself by suddenly preening a feather. "What's a swampert?"

Akri laughed (quietly).

"Apparently not on this world," the Pokémon-human commented.

"_I_ am," Leo answered, pointing to himself, Akri patting his head as well.

"Strange Pokémon you are," Uononi responded. "Speak strange language like the others. Is that human language?"

OK, so he had been slipping into human speak…

"So what's this treasure?" Kol asked. "And do you know what my kind wants with it?"

Which made Leo realize, if there was some prophecy or whatever that Blaze and the others were to find this treasure, then…it must be connected with the sun-like symbol! Could finding it have been the entire point of the map that lead them to the desert, and consequently to the portal? Then what of the humans below and the other Pokémon-humans? And why was he seemingly excluded from finding this treasure…unless…that he would be separated from them had also been predicted?

"The treasure is ancient," Uononi replied after a moment, finishing with a scratch to the area of its gash with a raised claw from a foot. "It's called the Griseous Orb."

Akri snickered, settling himself down on the ground amid the tall grass.

Leo gave the Guardian a glance, wondering what he knew of it. "What's the Griseous Orb?"

"Could that be…Giratina's orb?" Kol asked.

"It is," the skarmory replied.

"Giratina?" Leo felt certain he heard the name before, but was more concerned by the wide-eyed look on Kol's pale face.

"Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina, the three legendary dragons," the hybrid said quickly, counting each off with a slender finger. With fingers from his other hand: "Adamant Orb, Lustrous Orb, _Griseous_ Orb!"

"So Dialga and Palkia had a contemporary," Leo replied, resisting giving a shrug. Well, a third powerful dragon of near deity status helping them would have been…quite handy to have right at the moment. "Is that what your people are after? You've already dispatched Dialga and Palkia, so now they want Giratina? What…"

"It's beginning to make sense…" Kol interrupted, looking increasing worried before facing away. "When I sent Dialga and Palkia off, the place I sent them I'm willing to bet was a place where my kind was able to capture them, although I'm still not certain of how they were retrieved from there, considering my range to send anything in a dimensional bubble is limited. But Enpersen must have wanted all three, and now he just might have them!"

"But they only have an orb, not Giratina," Leo countered.

"Maybe…" Kol said, falling silent as he turned toward the camp below. "Unless the orbs could be used to capture…or control them…"

"They possess all orbs," Akri said, suddenly very sober. "I know."

To Akri: "How?" Leo asked. To Kol: "Control why, what for?" He still wondered what it all had to do with rescuing Blaze, Lonny and the others. A second later though, something dawned on him: "Then that suggests Dialga and Palkia are truly alive." But if they were being controlled, or were captured…!

"With the three Orbs, they can summon Him."

With Akri and Kol, Leo again faced the golden skarmory. "Him?"

* * *

Leo Hanson left out a good many things about how they came to the planet. Like the fact he and the others were depicted on an ancient map. Or that a shuttle-like flying craft flew them to the island containing the portal. But he couldn't avoid revealing the existence of the Poké world. The General already seemed to know there was no portal on Earth, so what else could he say? He was just thankful neither Blaze or Grovyle were looking angry with him.

Well, those two looked more concerned with the Pokémon and weapons surrounding them anyway. Not to mention there was a member of Kol's species here, actively deciding their fates based at least in part on what he was telling him!

It was his intention to go on to simply say they rescued an infernape who took them back to where the Griseous Orb was, but the General stopped him as soon as he mentioned encountering a charizard-like Pokémon in the portal room.

"Charizard-like? Describe it." the General asked, suddenly a little more upright in the folding chair.

"Ah…well, it was pretty dark, but…" Between Sally and himself, he thought they described it to the best of their ability. Secretly, he suddenly hoped mentioning this obviously powerful creature might change their situation a little. "It was incredibly powerful; it even used the Spacial Rend attack, like you have. It nearly killed all of us, _did_ kill one of us by knocking him over a cliff."

The General appeared frozen for a moment. "But you did survive, obviously. And you went through the portal together?"

"I think so, but we all blacked out; we woke up alone in the mountains to the north. This charizard-like Pokémon wasn't around, so we figured it maybe just left us, I don't know. But it could still be somewhere around here if it came through with us." There. The possibly that such a creature was on the planet he hoped would scare them. Certainly in thinking back, the sheer power of that creature could even prove a match for one of these hybrid human-Pokémon!

The General kept staring at him with what seemed consideration before looking away for a very long moment as if suddenly distracted, his eyebrows narrowing. He suddenly rose off the chair, moving for the door with a look of important purpose. "Guard them," to the soldiers before hitting the flap aside and leaving.

"That did something, I think," Sally whispered, but still getting the instant attention of the two soldiers.

Leo smiled only slightly inwardly, wishing he was free to talk. No doubt, Blaze, Grovyle and Lonny all looked wanting to say something too, while Ruby was still shaking a little. Deciding to risk a few words while rubbing his hand through the thick white hair on her upper back: "We'll be OK, Ruby. Just relax." If the soldiers were going to bark at him for just trying to comfort a frightened infernape, so be it. They didn't and Ruby sighed, leaning partly across his lap.

One of the soldiers grinned, "Nice pet there," in a somewhat deriding tone.

"She's different," he replied, keeping to himself the man didn't know the half of it. "Do you have any infernapes around here?"

"That's enough," the man returned, though not quite as a bark. "No more talking now."

Leo sighed. One thing he dearly wanted to discuss with his wife was how the General seemed to believe his story about the charizard-like Pokémon without question. Almost as if…could they have encountered it before?

* * *

"Arceus," the skarmory squawked with a reverent air.

Leo cocked his head, vaguely recalling the name as he rubbed one gill, but nothing specific. Perhaps Dialga once mentioned it…

Uononi continued: "Arceus burdened my ancestors with guarding the ancient human place, after certain Pokémon betrayed the humans and the humans were removed by Palkia himself. Then He disappeared too. But the three orbs brought together will summon him again!"

"So Enpersen wants something with a Pokémon named Arceus?" Kol half asked, half stated, furrowing his brow. "Alright, if that's why he's here, and considering how long he's been seeking it…"

"Then the sun symbol has something to do with…or _means_ Arceus," Leo realized…right before something else. Could it have been this Arceus who had everything done to lead him, Blaze and the others to this planet? Was _he_ the silhouette in the vision when he touched the golden craft? If so…why? And… "Who exactly is Arceus? Is he like Dialga or something?"

"I'd like to know too," Kol furthered. "He must be powerful if the General is seeking him. But all our ancient writings regarding him must have been censored or wiped or otherwise…"

The skarmory spread her wings, raising her head in clear surprise. "Arceus is creation! He _created_ Dialga, Palkia and Giratina. _Created_ the world. Created _everything_. Arceus is the _first_ Pokémon!"

"Keep it down," Kol warned with a hiss, pointing through the hill and to the camp below them.

"The…_first_ Pokémon?" Leo pondered. As in the very first Pokémon that ever existed? If he predated even Dialga and Palkia, then…he _had_ to be! Still didn't matter though, at least about the fact that he needed rescue his friends and mate. After having briefly been distracted from that by the skarmory, he felt an almost overwhelming need to do something about it again.

Now.

"Uononi, can you help us get my friends out of there?" also pointing toward the camp.

"I must take the Orb from them," the bird replied. "That is my duty."

Kol grimaced in removing his cap and scratching through his short, nearly white hair. "Leo, I don't know what Enpersen wants with Arceus, but I'm guessing it isn't good considering what I know of the man and his past deeds, which is considerable. We should reconsider our objective here, and make getting one or more of those orbs away from him our priority. Preferably all of them."

"Only one orb here," Akri piped in from behind, having been silent for a little while. "But all three will later."

"All right you little floating runt," Kol said sharply, though quietly, in whipping around to the Guardian with a scowl. "Start telling me how you know all these things!"

"Not yet," came the Azelf-like Pokémon's response, also sharper than his usual tone.

Which was an entirely different answer from his usual "Just know" Leo had grown to expect. It also all-but-said there was something Akri wasn't telling!

"Or maybe your purpose is to lead us into a trap?" Kol shot back. "How do we know you aren't working with Granakri? You were in that chamber with him before Leo even got there!"

Leo felt his heart skip a beat. Never had that possibility even occurred to him! It didn't seem like it would make much sense, yet…

"You silly," Akri replied, sticking a tiny finger against Kol's brow. "I not help those who destroy. And you…too distrusting."

"Yeah, silly me for wanting to know how you seem to know all sorts of things that none of us _should_ know!"

…it fact, it made no sense. Akri had already saved his life once, and otherwise protected him another time, whereas Granakri tried to kill him flat out. No, he needed to trust this Pokémon and not start questioning his intent. Not unless there was more evidence.

He decided to cut off Kol's and Akri's little back and forth by abruptly turning toward the camp, purposely letting his large rear fin graze Kol's face. "Enough you two. We need a plan to get down there, _rescue everyone_, and now also get that Orb from that General person." What he didn't say was he agreed with making getting the Orb the priority…because he desperately wanted a way not to. Really, it depended on what Kol's kind wanted with that Arceus, if summoning him was what they planned. Certainly nothing good if Kol's statements held any berry juice. Though if it turned out that getting the orb(s) meant sacrificing rescuing Blaze, Grovyle, Lonny, Sally and his human self, would they forgive him? Would he forgive himself? With irritation, he swatted an aggravating fly while trying to think of something.

Kol crawled a little back up the hill with him to where the camp was visible over the crest again. "The plan is I'm going down there alone."

Grass stalks caught in his spiky gills as he whipped his head to face the Pokémon-human. "Like a raichu's thunderbolt you are!" One thing he wasn't about to do, was let Kol reunite with his own kind without supervision!

"They already know another of our kind is here," Kol reasoned with an angry hiss. "I'm sure it's causing the General some real concern right now. And they likely think I'm still under their conditioning, although on Earth. I can use that to get into a position to maybe do something. I'll give a signal if I need you, otherwise you must wait here. It also might be a while."

Leo wanted to argue. Badly. What was infuriating was the hybrid's reasoning made perfect sense, and he ended up hissing in defeat with a fist into the ground.

"I'm going now." Kol rose up and first walked down their side of the hill, then around the base of it before heading for the camp.

Good, he wasn't walking directly from where he and Akri were. But it was taking all his willpower to restrain himself from following, and he grabbed a fist-full of grass in frustration. He so desperately needed to at least see everyone again, and to basically leave things in the hands of his former enemy was…damned hard.

Really, Kol's only purpose had been to get him through the portal and perhaps to help fight that Granakri Pokémon if needed. He had no plans for him beyond that, something he suddenly realized. Yet he was beginning to feel almost reassured that Kol was still with him. Indeed, the situation could well be impossible in the camp if not for his presence. Might still be, depending on what happened next.

The other feeling that was reasserting itself was of being part of some larger plan. He had sense before from Chalesti's map, the flying craft, the mural, and now the prophecy that Uononi spoke of, but now that Kol's kind were here and obviously up to something…

"Not worry…he care for himself, he he he," Akri said from above, barely touching his one gill with the bulbs on the ends of his tails.

"That's not what I'm worrying about," Leo informed. Which really made about the _only_ thing he wasn't worrying about!

But if the Pokémon-human did signal he needed help…

The sun was going to be below the horizon in another hour perhaps. But the light of the two…_three_ moons, noting as he looked toward the eastern horizon, would likely help if he had to go down there. Fortunately the wind was blowing away from the camp, so none of the Pokémon there could smell him; surely several of them had sensitive enough noses otherwise. As it was, he could detect the distinct odors of at least four Pokémon over the scent of the grasses, and his nose was only average among Pokémon.

Spreading some grass stalks apart in front of him a little, he got a better view of Kol leaving the lower slope of the hill before feeling a tap on his rear fin.

"Do you have berries?" the metal feathered bird asked. "I need energy."

* * *

Kol fought to keep his fear under control. Everything depended on how he acted. It'd been over eight years since he last saw General Makon Enpersen. The man who had orchestrated the trap which captured him, the man who had spent weeks conditioning his mind to make him an obedient soldier and to work against his own cause, and the member of his own kind that sent him to Earth on the off chance he might be able to complete a mission that had a low chance of success.

A mission that, now after shedding the conditioning imposed on him, he could clearly see had partly been to get rid of him. Although why they just didn't kill him after they extracted all the information he possessed about the resistance, he couldn't explain. Except for the reward of capturing Dialga and Palkia being simply too large to ignore, however slight the chance.

Too bad he succeeded.

Even now, he still didn't know what Dialga and Palkia were needed for. Obviously Enpersen already had the two orbs associated with them, according to Akri, _however he knew that_. Perhaps the two Pokémon were needed to control the orbs instead of the other way around? If so, they would likely need the Pokémon associated with the Griseous orb as well.

Halfway to the camp, he found himself sweating. It wasn't all that warm anymore and he'd hardly been exerting himself, but fear, nervousness…and anger were boiling in him. It was going to take all his willpower to come across as still being under the effects of the conditioning and not lash out at the General. He could only guess who the other hybrid was, though.

A semi-attentive croconaw was the first to spot him from near one of the tents, in turn quickly getting the attention of some gun-toting soldiers. The men started rushing forward, before apparently noticing what species he was and abruptly halting! Behind them and near one of the trucks, stood General Enpersen himself…along with the second hybrid who he didn't immediately recognize.

Small consolation that he was right about a second hybrid being present.

Even at some distance, he could see the General's face contorting in puzzlement. Which didn't change as he got closer, his heart pounding with the humans and croconaw following him all the way to the center of the camp, and garnering many startled stares from everyone else around.

_Get your nerves under control!_

"Who is he?" the croconaw asked, the stupid thing running forward to pull on the General's long, thin coat.

"Sir?" one of the humans asked.

"Were we expecting him?" the obviously much younger hybrid asked the General.

Kol stood motionless, waiting as Enpersen brought out a small Pokéball and absorbed the croconaw as almost an afterthought. No doubt, his appearance was most unexpected!

"Kol," the General said in something like a half greeting and a simple matter-of-fact in his lower voice. "Of all people, I least expected to see you again. Why, and how, are you here?"

"It's a long story," Kol started, fighting the growing knot in his stomach that stretched up to his throat. _Be convincing!_ _Right, easy to think!_ "I completed my mission, I drew out Dialga and Palkia and sent them to where you wanted within a dimensional bubble. There was no further point to remaining on Earth."

"Yes, I know you succeeded…though it had taken you a while. It goes without saying no one thought there had been a high chance of success, though. Alright, excellent work. But…_how_ did you get here and find us?"

Next to Enpersen, the other hybrid's eyes narrowed as he crossing his arms. "Seems we've been encountering a lot of unexpected people for an abandoned world."

"A lot?" Kol asked, at first wondering if he should feign ignorance of Leo's group, but remembered they were going to be part of his explanation.

"Lieutenant Jinogorn," Enpersen said in waving a hand toward the younger hybrid in the way of introduction. "He already knows all about you and your mission."

Kol swore that was meant that in a bad way, but the General showed no emotion. "I'm that well known, am I?"

"Considering your past accomplishments, of course."

Kol suffered a considering and uncomfortable stare for a good moment before the General finally moved.

"Perhaps we should sit down."

With the General's graceful gesture that belied his ruthlessness, he followed to one of the tents where a table and chairs were set up. After sending a soldier and a Pokémon to get food and drink, "If it's a long story, perhaps you should start telling it. I'm sure it's quite interesting."

"It very much is."

Of course, it would have been more so if he didn't need to leave out a number of details. Although up until he regained his mind, there really wasn't anything he needed to hide; only what came after. Still, he left unsaid the different timeline that was involved and that there were two Leos; those didn't matter anyway for the task at hand. In any case, the brief version seemed interesting enough: how he got control of the company that developed the original dimensional gate, funded a University team to build a decoy gate to attract Dialga and Palkia while having a second gate built at the same time…which he ultimately lost control of and was destroyed. Yet before he had even finished, the Lieutenant was chuckling.

"You couldn't even fight off a couple humans and a handful of normal Pokémon?"

Kol was readying a retort but the General waggled a finger: "Remember your manners, Lieutenant," he said sharply, showing a flash of the steel manner he could brandish at any time.

The Lieutenant sneered while moving some of his long white hair out of his face from the light winds, "Sure, if you command such."

Scowling, "I'll make it a command; we're all of the same superior species here and we must respect each other." To Kol: "The young one can command well enough, but needs to work on civility. Being in control of too many humans I think is taking its toll on him."

"Indeed," Kol agreed. What he wanted to do was unleash a Roar of Time at the stupid kid that looked in his early-twenties to teach him those manners. As well as for being on the side of repressors. As for the General, he was finding it more and more difficult to hide is utter contempt for the man who had killed likely thousands by now. But he didn't have a choice.

Hopefully, mentioning the Pokémon Granakri next might buy him a whole lot due to a common enemy. Even given the creature's legendary power, three of his kind working together could perhaps defeat it. And if the General got killed during the fight…well, so much the better!

Continuing his story with some elevated hope as his heart rate slowed: "A week ago, that swampert I mentioned came looking for me. He told me a story of how his group of friends went looking for some kind of treasure I think it was, but ended up finding a portal instead. But they weren't the first ones to find it. A very powerful Pokémon was already there. It attacked them, even using a _Spacial Rend_ attack." He paused for the briefest moment, looking for a reaction. Enpersen did change his expression somewhat, but was unreadable while the Lieutenant merely cocked his head.

So he needed to spell it out…

"It's attack very nearly killed him and his friends," Kol continued, "but it also apparently activated the portal at the same time. The swampert was left behind while everyone else was transported to this world. Evidently, the portal takes a great deal of power to activate, so the swampert needed me to reactive it. I went along with the plan, since it got me off of Earth and away from the constant hounding from the humans. But that Pokémon…it was apparently charizard-like in appearance and quite large. From the more detailed description he gave me, and the fact it could use Spacial Rend… You remember the story of Granakri?"

Every educated individual over the generations was taught the ancient story. If the General at all remembered it, he would know Granakri was the only one besides Palkia and their own species that had command of the Spacial Rend attack! Finally seeing both Enpersen and the Lieutenant raise their eyebrows: "The Pokémon that the swampert described I think…was _Granakri himself!_"

He waited for further reaction with the setting sun's light on the sides of their faces. The two hybrids opposite him gave him one, but not quite the worried one he was hoping for.

Instead: "Granakri was killed a long time ago," the General replied flatly, almost without apparent thought.

The Lieutenant didn't respond at all, even his expression revealing nothing.

"I believe that swampert was telling the truth," Kol continued, a bit puzzled. Alright, he probably didn't really expect them to believe it; after all, some didn't even believe the Great Destroyer had been real, given the number of centuries that had passed. "His description left little doubt. Unless someone somehow created another…"

The General and the Lieutenant both remained silent for a moment. Finally: "Your report of something attacking them does match what they already told me," Enpersen said.

"They're _here_, then?" Truly, he had to feint some surprise at that. If the General trusted him enough, perhaps he would be able to see them and at least find out if they were physically fine, even though he wasn't able to do anything just yet. It would also be low risk, since Leo's human form and his friends didn't yet know about his change. And that…could help convince Enpersen he was still under his control…which in turn might put him in a position to do something. Yes…maybe he had a decent chance.

Slapping his glass down on the table after glancing at his watch, "Lieutenant, make sure the supplies that aren't needed anymore are loaded up tonight," the General said, to which the younger hybrid nodded. Then getting up, "Kol, let's see them. After all, they seem to know you."

* * *

Leo Hanson heard the scattered words; something was going on. If it wasn't connected to what he told them, then he hoped whatever it was didn't mean bad news for them. Moving a hand around Ruby's long mane, he stroked one of her one long, pointed ears, trying to get the poor thing to calm down and stop trembling. Although she curled her tail around herself, his attention seemed to be working, though she still stared at the other Pokémon in the room, particularly the tough-looking poliwhirl sporting a few scars.

On his other side, Sally was peering at the side of the tent as if trying to see through it. At once, she seemed to want to say something, but a glance at the two soldiers appeared to dissuade her. But he thought he heard the same thing: a voice with a familiar tone. Facing Grovyle, his green partner was fingering his leaf blades in a nervous manner while Blaze's tail was jerked in short movements. He guessed they recognized it too. Meanwhile, Lonny just had her eyes closed, looking perturbed with her arms crossed.

It still took him a moment to place the voice as the conversation moved, becoming a little more distant, before a particular syllable triggered his memory. Making him instantly second-guess himself. How could _that_ man be here? It was a while before the conversation died as the outside light started turning red, replaced by the sound of people approaching. Finally the tent flap was pushed back, revealing first the General, then…

"Kol," Sally breathed.

The man seemed to hear it, but came in to stand by the General with little other reaction.

Blaze let out a growl as Grovyle recoiled.

"So you really are part of this," Leo said, directing it to the obviously younger human-Pokémon hybrid.

"Introductions really aren't necessary, then?" the General said with a thin smile.

"Bastard," Sally nearly spat. "Trying to wreck havoc on Earth wasn't enough for you, huh? And how the hell did you get here?"

Kol took in a breath before letting it out slowly. With seemingly a face of stone: "I've already played my part in this. This is General Enpersen's operation. I'm just here for support, and I take orders from him." Behind him, the General sat himself on the chair again vacated by one of the soldiers, which seemed to distract him for an instant. "I should tell you that your dimensional gate proved quite useful in allowing me to leave Earth. Thank you for repairing it."

"You…took it over?" Leo almost couldn't believe it. With all the security that was put in place…

"Not exactly. A certain swampert returned to Earth to seek my help. Seems he needed me to get a portal open in an effort to come here and rescue you."

Lonny's gasp was loud as she jerk upright. "Leo's…alive? He's…HERE?"

His heart too skipped a beat, although he still noticed the expression on Kol's face showed…something, for just a split second, as if carefully considering his answer, but just as quickly it reverted.

"I wouldn't worry about him any more if I were you. I already took care of the foolish Pokémon."

"What?" feeling Sally tense and his anger rise.

"No!" his wife half-screamed.

"YOU SON OF A…" Lonny didn't finish as she leapt to her feet and lurched toward the man…

Blaze was already ahead of her, red and yellow mane puffed to extreme as he beat the former swampert in launching forward. Before closing even half the distance, flames were leaving his mouth…

…as a powerful torrent of water impacted him from the side, smacking the infernape into the side of the tent several meters away and nearly collapsing the whole structure!

The soldiers instantly had their weapons leveled while on the other side of the tent, the poliwhirl looked preparing to charge forward…

"Enough!" the General shouted angrily before anyone could make any further moves. To Blaze: "Do that one more time infernape, and I'll have you and everyone else here killed! Same for the rest of you!" As if making the point, the General's hand was glowing with purplish light!

If he got half a chance, Leo knew he'd pummel Kol himself no matter the consequences to himself! He also had little doubt the General met what he said. With Blaze looking practically knocked out though, he forced himself to make sure no one else was going to try anything. Lonny had fortunately stopped in mid-step, eyes fixed on the General, though she looked about to tear something apart. Grovyle was looking worriedly at Blaze and obviously wanted to go to him, while Ruby… She was stared motionlessly at the hybrids in front of them, eyes wide with fear. Kol…had hardly flinched, he realized over the tense seconds.

"I don't think there's anything more to say here, sir," Kol said after another moment.

"Probably not," the General replied as the light around his hand died. His face returning to calm, "Then, there's also little point to keeping them around. I only wanted to know a few things from them and have my fun, but it wasn't really that important. I'm going to have them executed…"

Leo felt both Sally and Ruby flinch. Or maybe it was him. In any case, his felt his eyes going wide. They…were going to kill them? Of course, considering Kol's kind, why should he even have expected anything less? The hybrid already tried to kill them twice on Fore-Nine Island a year and a half prior!

"You should reconsider," Kol said as the General was signaling to the soldiers. "I don't know who that blue-skinned human is there, but these other two humans were the principal designers of the dimensional gate technology on Earth. Such technology would be useful on our world, I think."

The General paused with seeming indecision. "Really? _They_ are the designers? They left that part out of their explanation. You too, actually."

Kol shrugged. Still with little emotion: "Didn't seem that important until now. But it would be disappointing to lose such knowledge, General. Gate technology is enormously useful as we've already found out."

Leo was barely breathing, but he sure was sweating! On the one hand, he revolted at the thought of helping Kol, or any of these hybrids, develop gates on his world. On the other, if it could save all of their lives… Oh what was he thinking? If Kol's kind had the ability to travel between worlds, then they would…

…but how did they get to this world if they didn't already have it? Surely they didn't also use the portal on the Poké world? And the General said there was only one portal to this world, so how would they have got to the Poké world anyway…unless Palkia helped them?

In any event, he was just relieved they weren't going to be executed for the moment as the General ushered Kol outside.

* * *

Kol's utter contempt for the General continued to grow. Every time he said "sir" felt like another knife being jabbed in him, and twisted for good measure, just like when the regime used drugs on him in their successful attempt at mind conditioning. He did feel some mental relief on having talked the hybrid military commander out of killing the swampert's friends, although he truly didn't know who the blue-skinned human or other infernape were. Was the human a hybrid herself? She appeared to have small fins, like a swampert's made miniature…

"It almost seems you care about what happens with them, Kol," the General commented after they distanced themselves from the prisoner tent. Then with a sigh: "Perhaps you've been on Earth and not around your own kind for too long."

"I only pointed out how valuable they were," Kol countered, keeping his tone in check. _Careful…_

Nearly in the tone of a parent to a child: "I know you've been told this many times, but humans used to worship Dialga and Palkia. We have the genes and DNA from both in ourselves and as such, humans should naturally to worship us as well. We're superior and their natural rulers, and we cannot entertain any that do not."

Which neatly summed up the root reason he opposed his own kind. Not that he was _that_ enamored with humans (he was, after all, a higher being than them), but he didn't support the utter callousness and frequent ruthlessness most his kind exhibited toward them either. And some humans were…really nice people, once you got to know them. "I understand that. But there is something to be gained by keeping these ones alive."

The General continued leading toward the furthest tent in the light of the setting sun, finally nodding a moment later. "So it seems. But…I don't think we really need that technology."

Kol thought he knew the General at least somewhat; after all, they spent years fighting each other one way or another before his "conversion". But the man's response not just puzzled him. Not that he wanted the man to have it, but how could such a technology not be useful? Unless…did he already have it? Which would explain how he was here.

The General continued: "Still…it wouldn't be a bad thing to have either, so we'll take the prisoners back with us when we've completed our job here."

Again, Kol breathed a silent sigh of relief. "If you don't mind, just what is our job here?" Of course he already knew, thanks to the golden skarmory. Well…most of it, anyway. There was still a piece of the puzzle missing.

"Wait here," the General said, walking suddenly like a much younger man as he ducked into the nearest tent.

Kol waited, watching the various men around loading crates and other assorted items onto the many open-top truck transports parked around camp. The Lieutenant paid him a return glance, before frowning and turning back to directing a couple soldiers and Pokémon. Resentment? One particular memory came to him of an overheard conversation shortly after his capture. They were still trying to "convert" him at that time, but he was certain he heard Enpersen refer to him as being his own "special project". Perhaps…that meant more than just using him for the proposes of finding the few other hybrids that worked with him?

The General came back out in mere seconds: "Those humans were at the site of the ancient city we were looking for when we arrived, and they had this in their possession," the older hybrid said in holding out a round, black glassy object.

Kol took it with slight hesitation. Was it the orb the odd skarmory mentioned?

"That's the Griseous orb. Together with the Adamant and Luminous orbs, we now have everything needed for the final phase of a plan that started many, many generations ago."

Rotating it in his hand, he felt its weight while staring into its inky-black interior that almost seemed fluid with faint differences in black contrasts… "What is the plan?"

Taking a long breath, the General folded his arms across his thin chest, giving Kol a long stare. "Maybe it _is_ time to tell you, since you are still in my service."

"I've always been in your service," Kol quickly pointed out, being the same statement he gave on many occasions. Only now, for the first time it was no longer true.

"Of course. Now, do you know the history of our people? I mean, from where our human ancestors came?"

Easy question. "From Earth," saying what was taught in all the schools, even the ones for humans. It was one of the few things he didn't doubt, although the General's growing smile had him instantly question it.

"Ultimately, yes. But what is not so known is that we didn't come _directly_ from Earth. Thousands of years ago, several groups of humans were transported to different planets. Palkia transported some for Dialga, some for himself… _Our_ direct ancestors were brought to _this_ one," gesturing around them. "Our group was for not for Dialga or Palkia, but for Arceus himself."

"Arceus?" Kol nearly couldn't believe it. He'd only heard the name once, and was tied to an ancient myth. Until Uononi met them, he never really believed the Pokémon actually existed! Of course, he had the same thought about Granakri too, before seeing a rare, ancient photo of the beast.

"That's right," the General nodded. "Our ancestors were the chosen ones to serve him. They lived here for generations, building a respectably advanced civilization under Arceus's guidance. But the indigenous Pokémon grew hostile toward the end. The reasons were lost in time, though several of our scientists suspect it started when our forebears began the great genetic experiments. The end result was they were suffering when Arceus had Palkia move them to our present planet, a planet that already had humans previously transported by him."

Again, Kol tried to reconcile this with the childhood lessons all hybrids were given. Nowhere was there any mention of a third planet!

"This planet is rather special," the General continued. "It's very old, much older than Earth. In fact, we think it might be the first habitable planet that ever existed. It is Arceus's planet. And when our people were taken from this world, their ruined cities weren't the only things left behind. They had also built something else that was very important, and a survey performed by my staraptor showed it still survives as we expected."

"A weapon?" Kol guessed. Something to do with summoning Arceus certainly, though he couldn't state he had such knowledge yet.

Enpersen glanced at his watch with a quick smile. "No, not exactly." After another half moment: "Arceus was angry at both the Pokémon and our ancestors for the war they were waging against each other. When Arceus had our people removed, he erased all record of its location, for he never wanted humans to return here, or so our ancestors recorded in one of their writings that we've kept hidden. As such, knowledge of this world began to fade. However, Arceus left _one_ point of entry: a portal to here from another planet. And, that planet is the Poké world you arrived from apparently."

Pieces were falling into place, but Kol became conscious of…_something_, causing him to briefly lose his train of thought. On regaining it: "Then, you also used that portal? And the same one Granakri did? I assume he wasn't there when you were."

"We were never there," the General answered after looking abnormally calm for a moment, even closing his eyes. "What our ancestors built here was a temple to Arceus. His home. And from there, we can use the three orbs to summon him, according to the ancient writing. With your unexpected success on Earth in delivering Dialga and Palkia, we have all three functional orbs."

The _something_ morphed into a growing energy, unlike any he had sensed before. Similar to one of his kind...but also quite different. What was it? Returning the black orb to the General on his gesture, it took Kol a few seconds to comprehend what the man said matched perfectly what the golden skarmory had told him. "Why do you want to summon Arceus? Wouldn't that be dangerous?" Gesturing to the soldiers around them, "You just said he forbade humans to return here, after all."

"I'll tell you later," the General replied with a calm sigh. "But first…"

As the hybrid looked up into the twilight sky, Kol knew he was sensing the same thing. There was some approaching…_great_ power, and it was more than unsettling! Already it was exceeding what he'd sensed from either Dialga or Palkia when they were approaching the University lab on Earth a year and a half before! Arceus? But the General just said…

"I think the last of our supplies and personnel are about to be delivered," the General continued, still with his eyes to the sky. "And…I think it's time you meet _him;_ he's right on schedule of course."

It was all he could do just to stay standing and not curl up into a ball! The same weak physic ability all his kind had of sensing others with the same, or with great Pokémon energy, was screaming at him to retreat, cower, run away…to do anything other than simply stand there! It was becoming overwhelming, making his heart race as sweat broke out on his skin and under his clothes. Fighting to maintain some coherent thought: "Who? Meet who?"

"The truth," the General replied before the area lit up in a blinding white flash.

It was a familiar flash. The portal that took him, the swampert and the Akri Pokémon to this world created such a flash. So did Palkia when he had teleported into the University's lab a year and a half before. It was an effect of great teleportation energy. And as he struggled to see for several seconds, he felt it even more acutely: the crushing feeling of incredible power very close-by, threatening to overwhelm his physic sense! As his vision cleared, there was before him, a few meters away, a large charizard-like Pokémon...darker in hue, a little thinner than most with curved horns… His eyes went wide, his breath catching; beside him, the General bowed.

"I greet you again, Granakri. We have accomplished our task: we have retrieved the Griseous orb."

A smile spread across the Pokémon's dark face, a better smile than any normal charizard should have been capable of as his long teeth showed, blue eyes seemingly glowing.


	20. Chapter 20: Patterns of Power

**Chapter XX: Patterns of Power**

"What is he _doing_ down there?" Leo whispered to himself, expressing his impatience. In the last while, he watched Kol enter camp, be greeted by two others that he just made out to be also Pokémon-humans, talk with one of them for a while, enter a tent, then exit and talk some more.

"He do what he say," Akri informed in like-wise whisper.

Which really wasn't that informative. What he wanted to know was what Kol's signal was supposed to be, and how long was it going to take? And where was his other self, Blaze, Sally, Lonny, and Grovyle? And that second infernape…whoever that was.

He also felt the tension building in Uononi as the golden skarmory kept her eyes fixed on the scene below when one of the hybrids went into another tent. "How are you doing?" Leo asked.

The yellow eye on the one side of her head moved to briefly focus on him. "The berry helped. Thank you." The eye moved back to the camp below as the one hybrid came back out.

"He hold…what?" Akri asked as the person handed Kol whatever it was.

From Akri's tone, Leo thought the little Guardian already knew the answer.

"That is the treasure," Uononi seemed to breathe in through her metallic-like beak.

The skarmory didn't even twitch beside him as the two Pokémon-humans seemingly talked for a while more. He hoped with the orb in his hand, Kol would run, or start a fight…or do something! But Kol…handed it back? "What are you doing?" he hissed. "Don't give it back!" Pounding his large fist into the ground again, he didn't know how much longer he could wait, although if he had to go up against one of those hybrids by himself, he pretty much knew how that would turn out.

And of course, everything rode on Kol not betraying him.

An unexpected bright, white flash in the camp grabbed his instant attention; the flash was like that created by Palkia when using his teleportation ability! Could it… actually be…? As the light faded, a large dragon-like figure appeared in the center of it, briefly raising his hopes it was indeed the Pokémon of space…

…until, when the light fully faded…

It clearly wasn't Palkia, but it seemed familiar. In the reddish light of sunset, he couldn't be absolutely certain, but it looked a lot like…

Akri's gasp beside him confirmed it for him: it was the creature who attacked him and everyone else! Heart instantly pounding, the name for it came back to him: Granakri. At first, he first wanted Kol to get out of there…then to fight it off. Especially if that General or whoever joined him. Together, the combined power of two Pokémon-humans could certainly defeat it! Right?

As soon as that hope came to him, his skin tightened and his fins prickled at what transpired next. The other Pokémon-human bowed to the creature as Kol backed up… "What…is…going on?" demanding of the ground and grass in front of him in a horse whisper.

Then the bowing hybrid…_handed the orb to the creature_…and Granakri held it high in one clawed hand, letting out a loud charizard-like roar…

What the hell is going on? Leo mentally exclaimed, using a human word he didn't normally use. He couldn't do anything except watch in disbelief as others around the large Pokémon seemed to go to their knees as if honoring it!

"I will try and bring help to rescue your friends when I can," Uononi said suddenly, raising herself up.

Tearing his eyes from the unfolding scene below to face the her: "What?"

"I must use Extreme Speed now. Goodbye…"

Before her words had fully died, before he could even form a protest, the skarmory disappeared in front of him, replaced by a golden streak leading down to the camp and through it...

"Wow," Akri said in clear amazement. "Bird move quick!"

For himself, his heart froze as Granakri began roaring, now in clear rage…

* * *

The subject of the old story about the extremely powerful Pokémon, perhaps the most powerful Pokémon that ever existed, was…right in front of him! Granakri, the one who turned against his creators, and tried to destroy the world in an effort to bring the world under his control. _The Pok__é__mon who was supposed to be long since dead!_

He had believed what the swampert told him. But there was still a certain reality to it that couldn't sink in until he saw the creature for himself. And that reality, along with his overwhelmed physic sense…hit hard. Seeing the General bow and present the Griseous orb to the legendary Pokémon made it worse. As well as he could judge the facial expression of a charizard, Granakri looked quite…satisfied.

"And," the General continued with a surprising air of pride, "may I also present our agent from Earth, who had exceeded all expectations to deliver both Dialga and Palkia to us, and thus the other two orbs," gesturing a hand in Kol's direction.

Granakri looked down in seemingly noticing him for the first time. Kol backed up under the gaze, which felt to intensify the crushing feeling of too much energy. This…this was a nightmare in every sense of the term!

With a sharp-toothed grin: "You've done well then," in a deep, growly voice. Then thrusting the orb as high as its arm would allow: "After a hundred years of searching, I have all three orbs _and_ this planet! Tomorrow…we go to the temple!" As the creature pointed its snout upward and roared, all the humans and Pokémon around let out their own weaker yells or roars.

The noise was deafening and the scene around surreal. Kol struggled to breathe and think, heart pounding as he shook. The General was…working with Granakri? How…why? And they were going to summon Arceus? Tomorrow?

The odd-colored skarmory had been absolutely correct. Getting the orb from the General and now Granakri was far more important than any rescue attempt! Although…just what was the purpose of summing Arceus? After the racket died: "Why are we summoning Arceus?" The General had only moments before said he would tell him later. But he needed to know now. Although addressing Granakri directly he was sure was dangerous, well… he was already in a hell of a lot of danger! Truly though, it took all the courage he had to just get the words out.

The Pokémon looked back down questioningly.

"Forgive me lord," the General spoke quickly, "I haven't yet told him the entire plan."

Granakri chuckled. Still holding the orb up high where it caught the last rays from the setting sun, he glanced at it as if admiring, his light blue eyes taking on a weak glow from the same light. "Well young one, after I summon the Original One, I will…"

Kol blinked. It appeared as a large golden streak from behind, casting the very briefest of reflections of golden sunlight as it intersected Granakri's hand. And as soon as he realized there had been a streak…the black orb was gone…and Granakri recoiled instantly, as if his clawed hand and arm had been dealt a heavy blow!

It was a moment before anyone moved, then Granakri let out a very different roar. "It was a skarmory!" it raged, swinging its massive tail around along with a rest of its body. In only a second, it partly spread its wings and released what seemed like one unnaturally bright hyperbeam from its mouth, toward the rapidly receding streak and causing a broad arc of the sky to light up in explosions! The human soldiers at once yelled and opened up with at least a dozen full auto weapons, sending a spray of bullets into the sky in the same direction! The gunfire only died when the hyperbeam did, many seconds later.

Too many incredible things happening nearly at once threatened to overwhelm him. Eventually, he knew it must have of been Uononi using Extreme Speed judging from the golden glint, there being no other way _any_ Pokémon could move that fast. And straining to see over the distance, he thought the bird actually got away too, or at least nothing seemed to fall out of the sky.

Granakri raged again, forcing even the General to back up as humans, Pokémon and the Lieutenant cowered to various degrees.

After a mere moment of this, the General grabbed two Pokéballs, releasing a staraptor and a fearow. On a signal from him, the lieutenant and a couple humans released other bird Pokémon. "A skarmory just streaked past and stole our Griseous orb," yelling angrily as he pointed in the direction Uononi disappeared. "Go find it and bring the orb back!" The small flock took off with extreme haste, without doubt sensing the precarious situation.

Then…all became silent but for the retreating birds and the various sounds of twilight Pokémon in the grassland around them. It lasted all of maybe ten seconds.

Granakri swung around with a deep, throaty growl that seemed to shake the ground, making everyone nearby except the General flinch. "YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO HAVE A SECURE CAMP!"

"We can't eliminate every single Pokémon for kilometers around!" the General shot back, looking quite defiant in giving a wave of his arms around them.

The dark charizard-like Pokémon stared at him for a good many seconds before lowering his head to nearly the same level as the General's, all teeth bared and nostrils flaring, forcing the old hybrid to lean back a little. But instead of yelling, the Pokémon spoke calmly: "I trust the orb will be found before tomorrow then," infusing his words such that it was clear there would be major consequences if it wasn't. Then raising his head back up, "Now, is there anything _else_ to report before I leave to retrieve the other two orbs?"

Kol resisted an urge to glance behind at the tent with the prisoners, but the General didn't. In fact, the man gestured in the direction.

"We captured some unexpected guests. In fact, they already had the Griseous orb when we found them. Apparently they had managed to find it just before we got there."

Cocking his head, Granakri quickly faced the tent with a quiet, inquisitive-sounding snort. "Prisoners? Who? No one else should be here."

"Two humans, a few Pokémon, and one odd looking human female with blue skin. They claim you've met before, at the portal site, and…"

"Show me," Granakri commanded with a growl, cutting off the General.

On turning for the tent, Kol suddenly figured out why all the tents were higher than required for humans or even moderately large Pokémon. Even so, as the General rushed to hold open the flap, Granakri barely cleared the opening. And the recoiling and wide eyes formed on the prisoners as the three of them entered didn't surprise him at all. If anything, it provided yet more confirmation their story about battling the Pokémon was true.

Too bad he felt like cowering as much as they did. Truly, he couldn't see any possible way to help them at the moment, and if Granakri decided to do away with them…there was now absolutely no way he could help!

* * *

Leo Hanson moved to give Blaze support as the unsteady infernape practically crawled back, and saw the tears in the Pokémon's eyes. They thought his swampert counterpart had died back on the Poké world, but now learn he survived to only be killed later by their old enemy after seeking his help… In trying to comfort his counterpart's partner who had since become more attached to him, he wrapped an arm around the fire monkey and helped him sit upright.

Ruby appeared wanting to help with a carefully-placed hand as Lonny joined her; Sally reached around him to put another arm around the infernape's head and mane. Through this, Blaze didn't move except to draw his red and white haired legs up against himself, burying his muzzle between his knees and not making a sound.

The two soldiers seemed to allow this by hardly reacting. The Pokémon were watching more carefully, however, with the arcanine's stare at each of them a bit piercing.

He was about to ask for some food to help the infernape recover when a bright flash streamed in through seams in the thick cloth, the entire illumination from outside increasing substantially for a moment.

"What was…" Sally started to say.

Leo shook his head, looking to the soldiers. They again reacted hardly at all and seemed thoroughly unconcerned. He was tempted to ask them about it, but really didn't want to provoke them with such a question, especially after Blaze nearly got himself killed. Shortly after, there was a low, growly voice not far away, a bit of talking…just before a loud roar that startled not just him.

The soldiers seemed to smile at this.

Then a moment later came yelling, another bright flash, distant explosions, lots of gunfire…

This time the soldiers jerked with the rest of them! Obviously something bad was happening outside as they stood and leveled their weapons, though at none of them in particular. The arcanine, nidoking, poliwhirl, graveler and breloom were all on their feet in an instant as well.

"What is going on out there?" Sally whispered next to him.

"Testing their weapons?" Leo replied, daring the soldiers to hush him.

Whatever reaction the two men in front of them would have made seemed to get cut off as another, more ominous roar came through the tent fabric. More yelling by the same strange voice, one that now felt familiar…something about the area not being secure.

Things seemed to quiet down, at least for a few moments. But if he had any thoughts that things couldn't get much worse, they were dashed as the tent flap was pushed back, revealing a charizard-like creature…one with a distinctive scent that hit almost instantly…

His breath caught in his throat; despite the poor look they had of it in the portal chamber, there was little mistaking it was the powerful Pokémon who'd attacked them! And in the better light, he noticed new details, like it's now obviously darker tone, slender build and curved horns. Sally squeezed closer while both Grovyle and Lonny hissed. And Blaze…Blaze tensed further and froze solid, his yellow and blue eyes fixed on the large Pokémon.

Alright, he'd been wondering if they would ever meet up with that creature again. It was like a constant fear hiding in the shadows of his mind, slowly eating at him. It'd faded over the days, as it seemed less and less likely such a meeting would happen as time went on. Now for this Pokémon to appear before them, in the middle of a human-Pokémon hybrid camp no less…!

Even through the shock, he noted Ruby reacted the least, though even her eyes widened. Then, she was the only one of them who hadn't meet it yet.

"What are you?" Lonny shouted, as if challenging.

Neither it, the General or Kol reacted until all three were fully inside. Then as it folded it's arms across it's chest: "So…you survived," the charizard growled low in human speech, staring down from nearly above them.

* * *

Granakri's reaction confirmed he had met them before. Not that Kol had any doubts about the swampert's story anymore. In continuing to try and suppress his urge to run, he wondered what he could do if the genetically engineered creature decided to finish them right then and there. Granakri tried to kill them before, but didn't finish. Probably triggered the portal using an attack, but once they came out the other side…

"And I was told _you_ found the Griseous orb," the Pokémon continued, with a claw pointing to them. "You ended up saving us a little time." With a slight chuckle to his growly voice: "Seems my decision to let you live after we arrived here was a _fortuitous_ one. But you surprise me. I really didn't think you would live, or to come to find the orb ahead of us." It's eyes narrowing: "How did you manage…I wonder?"

"What are you?" the female infernape asked from partly behind Leo, earning the stares of those around her.

He again wondered who the infernape was; the swampert Leo certainly didn't know. Wasn't important though; what was, was Granakri baring his teeth…before he realized it as a smile, not a threat.

Granakri looked to regard the prisoners for a moment. "If it suits my General here," gesturing with one of his longer-than-normal-for-a-charizard arms, "I'll permit him to explain. As much as I enjoy playing with humans and other Pokémon, I'm busy." With that, the creature turned for the door, curving its large tail around and avoided hitting anything on its way out. Enpersen followed and the two human soldiers who had backed all the way to the tent wall came to reclaim their spots.

Kol spared the prisoners a last, carefully neutral glance, before exiting too, but not before suffering several hateful looks.

Granakri and the General walked some distance away before Enpersen spoke. "I already decided to spare them. Those two humans are the ones who designed and built a dimensional gate."

But the old, legendary Pokémon didn't seem to listen, instead gazing off toward the river and where the skarmory had flown off with the orb not long before.

"If you decide otherwise, however…"

"Having such technology would be valuable," Kol added as neutrally as he could, hoping his voice didn't convey any hint of deception…and that his heart would slow its pounding before he fainted!

Granakri whipped around with startling speed. Lowering his head to their level to face both of them: "_I_ am your transport. _I'm_ the one who brought you here and _I_ will take you wherever _I_ decide. Perhaps not for you, though," finishing with a claw nearly to Kol's chest.

He froze, watching as if in slow motion the creature withdraw his claw.

Back to the General: "Do not forget who your master is. You will go where I determine; there is no need for you to go elsewhere."

Locking eyes with Granakri: "With all respect sir, there's only one of you," Enpersen replied.

_Is he challenging him?_ Kol thought in starting to back up a step.

"You have to rely on us to make our own decisions. More so if you own more than one planet in the future."

Raising his head back up, the Pokémon stared directly down at the older man. With a huff, "Fine, if you think such could be that useful, let them live and serve me. But I still expect you to have the orb before I return."

"What if we can't find it?" Kol asked in a higher-than normal pitch, and quickly chiding himself for sounding fearful. But if he could stir up a little dissention… Without knowing Granakri hardly at all, save for that passed down through ancient stories, he hoped doing such didn't get him killed!

The General giving him a quick sideways scowl: "Can we still make use of only the Adamant and Lustrous orbs?"

The large Pokémon at first wrinkled his snout in apparent anger, but the expression faded as he faced the river again. He stayed like that for a while, during which Kol started to wonder if he really did overdo it with just the one question. During this silence where even the humans and the lieutenant around them in camp made hardly a noise, he became all too aware of the continuing physic pressure, not just in his head, but in his chest as well.

Eventually the creature did move again. With a seemingly distant expression, he looked first to the prisoner tent, then at Kol, back to the river, then a look over the prisoner tent to the hill a few hundred meters behind…the one where the skarmory had flown from and Leo and Akri currently still were (he hoped)…

Did the creature's eyes narrow just a bit?

After scratching the base of one of his charizard-like horns, Granakri finally faced the Enpersen: "We should be able to summon the Original One with only two, if we make an effort." Pointing a claw at the General's chest, "Whether you recover the orb or not, you will leave on time tomorrow to meet me at the temple." Then with a growl and some anger: "I will arrive with the other two orbs, so keep to the schedule!"

With no warning, the creature suddenly blazed in blinding light. Without opening his eyes, Kol could _feel_ the creature was gone and its pressure rapidly fading. The relief was as a boulder being lifted off him…he could breathe easily for the first time in seemingly ages! Regaining himself, he noticed the General showing a small amount of relief as various humans around started moving again and the Lieutenant approached.

"That was close," the young hybrid said, a hint of sweat about his pale face. "But if we can still summon Arceus, then it doesn't matter if we get the Griseous orb back, although I thought it took all three orbs. Weren't the writings clear about that?"

The General nodded, taking a deep sigh. "I'm sure Granakri knows what he's doing." After an odd stare at the prisoner tent, "Now get the supplies Granakri brought stored on the transports before everyone retires. We'll be leaving early tomorrow; it's a long way to the temple."

The Lieutenant nodded, giving a humph as Kol met his eyes briefly.

The General observed things as everyone got into motion with the new supplies, seemingly lost in thought, and Kol waited for the right moment to ask a certain and important question. After a machoke tripped and nearly dropped its crate to earn a sharp reprimand about slowing down and being careful, "What does Granakri have planned at the temple? Why is he summoning Arceus?"

"I don't know," Enpersen replied flatly.

Kol fixed a stare on him, a slight evening breeze ruffling the General's long white hair and his own shorter hair to a lesser degree. "Granakri doesn't trust you?"

Almost bitterly: "We're his servants; he doesn't need to tell us anything except what we need to know."

Although he had already guessed that in at least one sense, the General's response made his spine tingle. "What do you mean exactly, 'we're his servants'? Of that creature that nearly _destroyed_ our ancestors?"

Across the older man's face came signs of a mental debate. "Kol, you were always regarded as a special one among us, which was why I took a particular interest in you. You're getting here only proves my time wasn't wasted. And since you have made your way into this plan much further than any of us intended, and have now seen Granakri himself, its time I tell you something only very few of our kind have been privileged to know."

The General's tone was half stern, half amused, but on his gesture, Kol followed him into his personal tent. And within only moments, wish he had never come to the damned planet!

* * *

As evening became night, the waiting was nigh unbearable. Granakri showing up was a shock, and the power Leo witnessed the Pokémon unleash for a second time sure didn't help, making every one of his nerves scream to get his friends out of there! He somehow managed to hold himself in check, giving Kol more time to do whatever it was he was going to do.

Fortunately there were no apparent attacks against anyone in camp, and the beast was now gone again, with Uononi having gotten away with the Griseous orb. Unless one of the human's bullets caught her and she was laying somewhere in the distance, dying, or one of the released bird Pokémon caught up…although none had yet returned. Watching Kol follow another hybrid into a tent, he formed thoughts of running down there despite the hybrids and the weapons the humans had. Maybe he could duck the bullets…

Arg! His emotions were so blasted high, he couldn't even think straight!

Swearing he simply couldn't wait any longer: "They don't have the orb anymore, so we can now concentrate on rescuing." Charging forward would be foolish in all likelihood, but with Kol's and Akri's help… He started getting up, but one of Akri's tiny hands was quickly on his forehead.

"We can't go," the Guardian hissed through his small mouth. "The General…is with Granakri."

"As in, working with that Pokémon?" Not that he hadn't already guessed that considering what had transpired just before.

"Yes."

That fact did make the entire situation a whole lot worse, though. Kol could be in serious danger as well. Unless the hybrid turned on him. If so, then rescue was all but hopeless.

He tried focusing on just observing the camp for a while more, wondering what in a aipom tail's sake Kol's signal was supposed to be, or if there was even going to be one. "How can I just sit here?" asking in exasperation after another moment.

"You try rescue now, you die," Akri said pointedly. "Then you no use."

"How do you know I can't succeed?" Other than it being quite obvious he was outmatched at least forty to one!

"Not meant to try now."

"I'm not _meant_? What does that mean?" Akri didn't answer, but it was increasingly apparent the Guardian was holding back something. Even so, he still had the sense it was for his own good, if not aggravating that he was being…perhaps not controlled, but _led_. And in his current state of mind, even a little added aggravation wasn't good… "Great. So I can't do anything but wait here, completely helpless," he continued, starting to tap his balled-up hand against the now flattened-grass covered ground. He really wanted to scream. So close, yet not able to do _anything!_ On a sudden idea, he started getting up again anyway. "Maybe I can get closer and at least catch a glimpse…"

The Guardian's sudden appearance in front of his face surprised him. Grabbing the gills on either side of his face, there was also something odd about the small Pokémon's light green eyes. Something…insistent…undeniable…tiring…

"You rest now," Akri's voice said as if through a thickening fog. "I wake when…you… needed…"

The words were the last he remembered before feeling a shaking and hearing the Guardian again. The tone was urgent.

"Wake up!"

He did, and surprisingly fast. And just as quickly realized what the Guardian had done. "You used hypnosis on me!" hissing with indignation.

"You about to do foolishness," Akri whispered back. "Kol come now."

Following Akri's tiny pointing arm, Leo saw in the moonlight Kol walking below the hill, coming around behind the same way he had left _however_ many hours ago. Glancing to the camp, there were only a couple small fires still going. Backing down from the hill's ridge with Akri, he waited near the base as Kol reached them.

"What is going on?" he nearly yelled, checking his volume just in time. After the Pokémon-human didn't answer for a few seconds was when he noticed the preoccupation and distant look on the man's pale, boyish face.

"Granakri showed up," Kol finally answered, voice nearly devoid of emotion.

"Yes, we saw that," Leo replied. "Did Uononi really get away with the orb?"

Kol shrugged. "Didn't see any of the Pokémon come back with it. Probably. But…"

Leo waited a moment for the hybrid to finish, but he didn't. "So when do we get everyone out of there?"

After a sigh, the man seemed to refocus a little. "The guards think I'm going out for a walk, doing a quick patrol for them, so I don't have much time. Everyone's going to be leaving early in the morning, heading for Arceus's temple." In a few sentences, he explained what the apparent plan of the hybrids and Granakri was, although not what the ultimate goal was.

No doubt it was nothing good, but "How do we rescue Blaze and everyone else?"

"I've already set something in motion for the morning. You'll must wait until then, when you see most everyone leave. I'll be lagging behind. Approach the camp after most the vehicles leave."

"That's it?"

"I don't know. We'll have to see in the morning. I better go now."

He had a dozen other questions, but the Pokémon-human started running for the opposite side of the hill.

Leo nearly started following.

"He make them think no one here," Akri said with a small hand to his shoulder, as if holding him back.

Not that he actually was going to follow; he understood the ruse Kol was trying. But to use a human phrase, he felt for the umpteenth time since arriving on the planet that he wasn't being told everything!

"Sleep till morning," Akri seemed to suggest. And just as Leo started covering his eyes to avoid another hypnosis, the Guardian added: "You need strength tomorrow."

"Huh? What am I going to be…" As he looked to the Guardian, the small portion of his eyes he left uncovered was all Akri needed…

* * *

Kol still felt numb, even after going for a "walk". Giving a passing shrug to one of the guards: "Was nothing". Of course, he hadn't actually heard anything and neither of the humans insisted on going with him. As a hybrid, he was naturally their superior and thus had to obey him. Which didn't mean the General hadn't told them to keep an eye on him, but that didn't appear to be the case. Likewise, it was fortunate they hadn't seen the flash from the small, quiet thunderbolt he released under the hood of one of the transports.

"Going for a walk _this_ late?"

Swinging around, he found the Lieutenant's head was peeking outside his tent. "Thought I heard something; considering we were attacked by a skarmory, I considered it prudent to investigate," giving the same story he told the guards.

The younger hybrid looked to the hill Kol indicated. "Same direction that damned bird came from."

"Yes, but I found nothing there now." He continued for his own tent, mindful the young man's eyes were on him, but his voice stopped him.

More quietly: "Before you get too comfortable, Kol, I don't trust you. So don't think you can just walk in here like this and pretend everything is normal. I know who you really are."

Before he could formulate a reply, the man ducked back into his tent, leaving him to dwell on it in his own tent. Obviously the man would know about his past. But did he suspect he'd broken the conditioning Enpersen had imposed on him? Or was it just that the Lieutenant still considered him a foe? If the former, he needed to continue being very careful. The General and the Lieutenant together could probably overpower him and at least start the conditioning process all over again.

Enpersen wasn't giving any signs he suspected that, though. If he did, he guessed he wouldn't have been told… Not that the nightmare hadn't crossed his mind on some level, when he started suspecting Granakri was still alive. But like something so terrible it was to be shut away and never given the light of day, he'd refused to give it any real thought. That and it was so outlandish, it seemed impossible and so warranted no further thought for that reason alone.

Now, that darkest of possibilities was true...if the General wasn't lying.

Laying on the small cot provided him, he curled himself into a fetal position, wishing he could simply cease to be. There was, ultimately, only one way out now. He simply couldn't live with the thought of his race being created by such a terrible Pokémon, their only purpose to serve him…


	21. Chapter 21: Desert Chase

Chapter XXI: Desert Chase

Leo Hanson woke as very early morning twilight brightened the green tent fabric above. Other than Grovyle (and naturally the Pokémon guarding them), everyone was still asleep, including the two soldiers sitting nearly upright in their chairs. On either side of him were Sally and Ruby; two heads resting against him. And against his own head he thought Blaze was laying, judging by the feel of thicker back and mane hair.

Damn it was warm.

Eventually there were sounds outside, indicating humans and Pokémon awaking up and getting around to whatever duties they had. Not long after, Sally, Ruby, Blaze and Lonny returned to consciousness as well as the two soldiers. Breakfast was served shortly, surprisingly consisting of pancakes and sausage! It was the first real food they had been given other than some crackers the previous evening, and his stomach growled as his plate was handed to him, the others already digging in.

"Better use that can over there," the server said gruffly after handing out the last plate, pointing to the back of the tent where a temporary toilet was set up behind a short screen. "We're leaving shortly and we'll be traveling all day."

"'ere r e go'wen?" Lonny managed to spit out through a completely full mouth.

"None of your business," one of the two soldiers barked. "Just eat your food. Be glad you're being allowed to live for now."

"You have ten minutes, so hurry up," the food server added before leaving tent in his own apparent hurry, after which the guards started wolfing their food and talked about wanting to relax on the way instead of guarding prisoners. Not to be outdone, the guard Pokémon started grumbling about always being fed last.

He would've smiled at the unfairness of it given other circumstances. At least the pancakes and syrup were a bit more than mere passable, though he noted they gave them plastic forks. Beside him, Grovyle seemed to be trying to encourage Blaze to eat, but the infernape just glowered…before Lonny smacked him on the side of his head, getting everyone's attention rather quick!

"Lonny!" Sally shouted.

Leo nearly dropped his plate in getting his arm ready to block the next smack she was looking to prepare. What the hell was she doing? He was about to ask just that when the former swampert dropped her arm.

Instead of looking alarmed, the soldiers just smiled, but the other Pokémon were fully alert with the breloom saying something in alarm.

"Eat!" Lonny said in a commanding tone that was just a notch below yelling, ignoring the breloom. Then much more quietly: "Stay strong…for Leo."

The male infernape stared at her, holding the side of his red face. He replied quietly in Poké speech and finally started eating.

At least that got results, Leo mused somberly. Just as he finished wolfing his own food and paid a visit to the "can", three more soldiers entered and somewhat roughly forced them up off the rug they had spent the night on.

"If we had any spare Pokéballs, we'd be absorbing all of you," the huskiest of them said, directing it to Blaze, Ruby and Grovyle. To Lonny: "Not sure about you, honey. You look part Pokémon of some type, but I'm sure we could find better places for you." He smiled before puckering his lips.

"Go drown," she spat back.

The soldier smirked before they were all pushed outside into the low morning sun. Despite that, Leo managed to hang onto his wife and once outside, kept an arm around her. She was shivering. So was Ruby, once again at his other side, while Blaze and Grovyle positioned themselves directly in front…between them and the three hybrids who apparently had been waiting for them in front of one of the open-back trucks.

As soon as they arrived, the General launched into a warning that any attempt to escape by any one of them would result in all of their deaths. He also ordered their hands tied, _especially_ the Pokémon.

"Bastards," Lonny said just above whispering.

Without warning, the younger hybrid rushed forward to punch his fist, sinking it deep into her stomach! Lonny gasped, doubling over before collapsing to the ground on her knees. As Blaze hissed and reached down to her, the hybrid touched his arm, unleashing what appeared as electricity into him; Blaze screamed before going down himself!

Some of the soldiers around laughed.

"Hey!" Leo shouted to make the man stop, but froze as the young man whipped around.

"That enough, Lieutenant," the General said calmly.

"They need to be taught respect, sir," the younger hybrid replied.

"You've made your point already. We want them healthy yet."

Leo waited, hoping that was indeed it as the Lieutenant returned to stand beside the General. After a quick glare, he helped Blaze get back up as Grovyle and Sally likewise helped Lonny.

Ruby pointed to Blaze's arm to which the male infernape just shook his head. He seemed OK although a little dazed, in contrast to Lonny who was holding her stomach rather tightly with her face still set with pain. She eventually gave her own glare to the hybrids.

"Finish getting everything loaded!" the General shouted, after which the soldiers seemed to kick into a higher gear.

As a handful of men surrounded them and herded them toward another of the trucks, Leo vowed whoever made the damned map that lead them to this world was going to get his eternal damnation.

His anger didn't override his fear, though.

Kol again felt helpless. He'd witnessed such displays of "education" before; at least this one was relatively mild compared to some. But soon…

Keeping his distance, he waited as the prisoners were loaded into one of the open-top trucks. Most gear had been loaded up the previous evening, so only bare essentials and the tents themselves were collapsed, packed and loaded…all in less fifteen minutes as the sun broke over the horizon. The soldiers were efficient if anything. The waiting did give him more time to think, not that he really needed to. He already had decided what to do; it was now only a matter of making it plausible.

"We're going to make history today for our kind," General Enpersen said quietly as they stood near the lead transport. "It's quite ironic you're here for the birth of it."

"Ironic?" He knew exactly what the General meant, that being all his activities to oppose the hybrid government on his world (and by extension what was taking place here), but he still needed to play as if he didn't have those memories.

Climbing into the front seat, the older hybrid smiled. "Let's just say, none of us thought you would turn out to be such a valuable and resourceful asset for us." Without allowing time for further questions, Enpersen stood, facing rearward to the line of seven transports: "Alright, we're moving out immediately!" Back to Kol: "Take the third vehicle."

Kol did as instructed, passing by the second truck which the Lieutenant was seated in. Oddly, the young man didn't give him so much as a glance, but stared intently forward…except for a creeping smile.

Bastard. Even more so than the General, the "kid" displayed the overbearing arrogance his kind typically exhibited, owning to their superior status. Too bad he and a few others working together hadn't been enough to effect any kind of change…even including a great personal cost. The memory of which made him clench a fist.

The engines of the trucks were already running by the time he planted his foot on the floorboard of the third one. Except…

"It won't start!" came a cry from the rear.

He held his breath in looking back. He had to guess which one the prisoners were going to be loaded into. And…it wasn't the one. Damn. Of course it'd been too much to hope for. Even so, taking on prisoners meant the remaining trucks were given extra loads of men and supplies, essentially meaning…

"Fix it!" the Lieutenant shouted back angrily.

In the span of a few seconds, two soldiers had the hood open and were peering over the engine. Several attempts at cranking the engine failed as the minutes ticked by.

During which Enpersen seemed to lose patience: "We have a schedule people! You men assigned to that truck, fix it and catch up. All other transports: we're leaving _now!_"

Kol jumped back out, half-running to the General as did the Lieutenant. Since they couldn't afford to lose even one truck at this point and still keep all their supplies, the best option would be to leave the most nonessential things behind in case the truck couldn't be repaired, and that would be the prisoners. Of course, he would be the natural choice to stay behind and make sure nothing happened. But that could raise suspicions…

"Make him stay behind and help the men," the young hybrid said with a point toward the disabled vehicle and Kol.

Inwardly, Kol smiled as the young man saved him making one of the points. But: "Perhaps we should load that vehicle's supplies onto the prisoner transport. The prisoners are the least essential. I will stay and guard them, make sure they don't escape." Then he did allow himself a smile. "Besides, we have a history."

Enpersen scowled before looking at his watch, then back at the transport where the troubleshooting was continuing in seeming haste. "I don't know how long it'll take to get there, and I don't want to waste any more time with shifting cargos. We move out now so get back to your trucks."

"I should still stay and protect the men then, ensure they make it. This world is dangerous from what I saw on my way here. I was attacked multiple times." The look that followed from the General was uncomfortable and seemed to reflect a change in attitude, but he finally nodded. "Fine. Protect them then." Without another look, the older man shouted to the caravan to move out, and almost at once the line of six open-top trucks passed around him, leaving the disabled one behind with its five soldiers.

Well, at least he was successful in the most important task, though if only he could of had Leo Hanson and the others left with him!

Walking to the disabled truck, he feigned interest in looking at the engine and wondering what the trouble was. Finally, the caravan passed below a low ridgeline in the grassy expanse to the west, disappearing from view for the last time in the distance. He started brushing back his long white hair before remembering it had been cut, then with a brief frown: "Guess it's time," he mumbled to himself.

"What was that, sir?" one of the soldiers asked, barely looking up from the engine.

"Time for what?" another asked.

"You aren't coming with me," Kol answered them, feeling the familiar tingling of Pokémon energy flowing into his hands.

Leo saw them.

For the first time since the terrible attack on the island by the Pokémon Granakri, he saw them: his human self, Sally, Grovyle, Lonny…and Blaze. And a second infernape. Heart pounding, he nearly tore through the grass to get to them, save for some urgent whispering by Akri not to.

It had been…so long since he'd been with or even seen his partner and dearest friend! And Lonny…thank heavens she was also unhurt! So they all appeared, for the moment. But…there were three human-Pokémon hybrids down below in the camp with them, only one of which was likely friendly. There was also the matter of the over two dozen humans around, all dressed in what was similar to the green army camouflage on Earth.

And then…one of the Pokémon-humans rushed forward, punching Lonny and attacking Blaze!

He was on his feet instantly…as were Akri's small hands in trying to push him back down.

"No!" Akri whispered insistently. "No! No!"

Leo growled. It took every ounce of willpower he had not to do something, but if Kol didn't do something soon, he _was_ going down there! And by Dark Crater, he would personally see to it that one Pokémon-human got what was coming to it!

"Wait, must wait," Akri reiterated. "Can't been seen."

As if he knew what was going to happen!

"What is going to happen?" Leo whispered back angrily, fully agitated now not just at the situation, but also at the light-blue Guardian who had used hypnosis on him twice in one evening! The last one lasted until just several moments ago!

"Don't know. Something. Kol do something. Wait!"

He growled again and the Guardian retreated back a little through the tall grass. "He better do it quick then, because they're leaving already!" And that…no matter what, he could not let happen; he wasn't about to lose his friends again! He debated what else to do to show his extreme agitation when there was suddenly a berry squished against his mouth.

"You eat; need strength."

He was about to protest, but realized that he'd been so upset and fixated on his friends, he hadn't noticed his hunger. Opening his wide mouth, Akri shoved the berry in and the sweetness of an oran berry greeted his tongue. "Thanks, but they're about to leave," reminding with a point down to the camp…just as there seemed to be an issue. Just barely audible over the several hundred-yard distance, one of the humans said something about something not starting.

Attention was paid to one of the vehicles for several moments before the caravan started moving, leaving the one behind…as well as Kol…but not Blaze and the others!

"We have to go!" Leo said, getting himself up.

"No!" Akri nearly shouted. "Not safe!"

Leo felt the Guardian plopping down on his head with apparently all his might. He relented, barely, but hissed and pounded his fist into the ground as he watched the line of vehicles receding slowly into the distance, swearing if Akri was wrong… After a few moments, the trucks dropped out of sight behind a low ridge and didn't reappear…and his heart sank. "Now what?" he asked angrily.

"Look," Akri said, pointing toward the remaining transport.

It took him a moment to comprehend what was happening. Kol…was attacking the humans that remained behind! Through a combination of thunderbolts and the white, glowing arc of a Spacial Rend, the Pokémon-human had most the men on the ground before one of them raised a gun…who Kol immediately dispatched with seemingly something invisible, like a physic attack…just as a fifth person came running from behind the vehicle and struck him.

"We go, we go, we go! It time!" Akri cried, shooting up far above the grass and taking off.

Leo needed no encouragement to race full-speed down the slope of the small hill! By the time he reached Kol, a couple of the previously downed humans were already back up and about to join the hand-to-hand struggle a third was engaged in. Coming from behind, he leveled one with a Focus Punch as Akri used some psychic ability on the other. Kol eventually head-butted the third and released a thunderbolt to finish him.

"I'm losing my touch," Kol said in turning about. "I…"

"Look out!" Akri cried, putting his tiny hands up as another of the humans floated up. Kol gave that soldier a Spatial Rend, the white arc sending him flying backward several meters through the air, landing in the tall grasses beyond the former camp's radius.

"We aren't done yet," Leo shouted, seeing two others getting up again and grabbing their weapons. At least they seemed surprised at his and Akri's sudden appearance, he thought while giving one of them a water-pulse and connecting another Focus Punch to another that refused to stay down, electing a satisfying screech and groan. That human finally stayed down, but Akri psychically lifted the other to let him fall from a few meters up. Then…finally…nothing; all five soldiers were scattered and unconscious. Panting from the run and use of energy, he swung around to face Kol, who was struggling for breath himself as sweat glistened on his pale face.

"They will be out for a while. Or as long as my psychic ability will last."

"What took so long?" Leo nearly screamed, determined to rip into him.

"I had to weaken them first!" Kol yelled back, pointing at the nearest of the humans.

Pointing one of his own large blue fingers toward the west, "No! They already left! The orb was taken by Uononi, all you had to do was help rescue Blaze and Lonny and everyone! NOW THEY'RE GONE AGAIN!" He was on a verge of raging out of control; Kol had waited far too long before doing anything! And now…

…could Akri could fly them again? "Maybe we can fly?" Facing the Guardian, he found the floating Azelf-like Pokémon already shaking his head.

"We need that," Akri said, looking toward the transport. "I can't fly all them. If we rescue, I need help. Or very long walk with no water."

Leo hissed with exasperation, again feeling totally helpless. Turning away, he tried figuring out what he could do, other than nothing. Chasing the vehicles on foot would be impossible, and if Akri couldn't carry more then he and Kol, then they were stuck! Focusing elsewhere in anger, something on the flattened grass caught his eye. Was that…Lonny's spear?

"They're crossing a dessert, heading for the temple," Kol finally answered. "We need this vehicle, because we need to get to the temple and stop them from summoning Arceus."

"What? Why? Summon Arceus for what?" Leo asked sternly. "And Uononi has the one orb, she said they need all of them to summon!"

"Granakri said they can probably do it with only two of the three!" Kol shot back. "And it's Granakri that wants Arceus for something."

Leo debated, looking for any way out. He'd already sacrificed the rescue once because of concern over summoning Arceus! But in taking a deep breath, realized it was the same argument as before if the Pokémon-humans (or that unnaturally powerful Pokémon Granakri) wanted the creator of…well, basically _everything_ according to Uononi. "What do they want Arceus for?" asking after calming slightly.

"Only Granakri knows. Not even General Enpersen knew. And in case you hadn't figured it out, the General and Lieutenant are in Granakri's service, and by extension…all of my kind."

He was still angry, but his mind was clear enough to notice the slight pause in Kol's voice, suggesting more to what he said. "So that genetically engineered Pokémon you thought was long dead is really the one in control of your world then?"

Kol nodded slowly before leaning under the front hood of the transport. "I can fix this in maybe a half-hour; I know what's broke since I broke it; I had to make sure it would take too long for them to fix so they would leave it behind. And since we just got rid of some of the soldiers, we now have a better chance at rescue. Once we catch up, you and Akri will need to untie your Pokémon friends, and then with all of us together, I _think_ we can take on both Enpersen and that bastard Lieutenant. If we can accomplish that, then…"

Leo listened to the plan, which although sounding not bad, noted Kol had a slight nervousness in his voice. Even with all of them together including one very powerful Pokémon-human on their side, taking on two other Pokémon-humans and their own small army wasn't going to be easy. Then again, he and Blaze, together with all of Chris's Pokémon back on Earth, were able to defeat Kol and a couple of his henchmen and their Pokémon a year and a half ago. So there was some solid hope. And as close as he was now, after everything it took to get to this point, he _swore_ he wasn't going to fail!

The hard bump forced Lonny's shoulder into Grovyle's head, eliciting a quiet hiss from the grass-type. In turn, Blaze collided with Leo on the other side of the truck. What was worse was the hard wood floor of the vehicle's back they were forced to sit on. It was starting to hurt! That, and her stomach was still sore from the punch that damned Pokémon-human gave her. Bastard. With everything else, she really wasn't feeling the greatest.

Especially since they didn't stop. For the last she-didn't-know-how-long, they kept traveling over the open grasslands stretching out in all directions. Although the grasses were gradually becoming sparse and in the far distance, it looked more desert than anything.

At least the sun wouldn't be directly overhead for a while yet as they headed west.

With a couple soldiers sitting on the same floor behind them and three in the front seat, she doubted they were going to let her say anything to the others about her observations. That General whoever jerk made it more than clear that talking was forbidden. Given his power and the fact she wasn't a Pokémon anymore, she could hardly argue. Also given what her Leo said once about how powerful Kol was when they battled him, she wondered if still being a swampert would make much of a difference now anyway, no matter how strong of one she'd been.

But it sure wouldn't have hurt!

She sighed heavily. Like it or not, she was pretty much human, despite the leftovers of her former form, and it didn't look like she would ever return to that. She was…

She gulped the word. No, she wasn't useless. That she had come to realize at least a little. And there were some things about her human body she admitted she really liked, such as more versatile hands. Although they were tied at the moment.

Ruby was on the opposite side of her from Grovyle, with the three of them in turn on the opposite side of the truck bed from Leo, Sally and Blaze. Over yet another hard bump, she heard the female infernape yip over the noise of the engines. She guessed her tail just got pinched at the base again as her back hit the side.

It was in fact getting bumpier as they seemed to pass over more and more rock. She finally had to draw her knees up more just to brace herself. It hid her hands from view of the two soldiers and for a moment, wondered if she could get them free somehow. After discretely testing the bond, it was obvious that in lacking her Pokémon strength it was hopeless. If she even just had the use of her Focus Punch, that energy might be able to…

Protect?

She dismissed the idea as soon as it popped into her head. Surrounding herself with a shield wasn't going to do anything except get her attacked by the humans if they noticed it.

Or…could she perhaps focus the energy, so it just formed a very tiny shield…like around her wrists? She'd never heard of any Pokémon being able to do such a thing, but for what reason would a Pokémon ever try? If you were using Protect, you needed to shield your entire self, not just a small part. Yet most moves could be controlled in various ways…perhaps it was possible?

"Enough with the mental debate!" she thought abruptly. Such deep thinking she never really did that much of until she became human. Now it was all the blasted time! So much for simply following instinct, or doing what felt right.

After a last side-ways glance to the soldiers in the back, she closed her eyes briefly, trying to channel the energy that made Protect possible into her hands. Certainly there was no mistaking what the energy would do when it started making her skin tingle, as it was the only way she could use such energy now! But it took a lot of concentration and time while fighting the jarring of the vehicle to move the focus back a little, toward her wrists, and even more concentration to release it very, very slowly, so only the tiniest of a bubble formed…barely extending beyond her hand. She didn't quite pull it back it time before it suddenly expanded nearly beyond her legs for an instant!

Giving another sidelong glance to the soldiers, she breathed better when they didn't react.

Trying again, she managed to get the bubble to stop quicker. After several more attempts, she had it successfully confined to only her hands, and could cycle it every few moments several times before needing to rest. Although the drain was light, the amount of control it took was tiring, and she began to wonder if it was doing any good.

On twisting her hands though, her bonds were slightly, but noticeably, looser…

Leo really didn't want to complain about the break-neck pace Kol was keeping the truck at in following the tracks left by the previous six; they were following his dearest friends who were being held against their will and in apparent great danger. Friends he had only that morning seen for the first time in a couple weeks, and then only at a distance. Friends that at one time, he feared were dead. However, standing in the back of the flat-bed truck, he had to hang on to the padded bar behind the front seat for dear life, else he'd go flying on the next big bump! Akri, being able to float, had no such issue of course.

"It's a little rough back here!" he finally shouted after one really nasty jar.

"We can't let them reach that temple!" Kol shouted over the roar of the engine and the rattle of just about everything that wasn't tied down and even much of what was. "If they reach Granakri, there's no chance of rescuing anybody!"

That he understood very clearly. Taking on that Pokémon alone made him think of a piplup with a severe case of paralysis, poison, burn and every other affliction known to Pokémon, trying to take on an electivire - the outcome wasn't going to be good! But if they had to face two also quite powerful Pokémon-humans at the same time…

Tightening his grip further, he anxiously looked ahead for sign of the other vehicles. It became rather obvious the caravan hadn't been poking along either, otherwise they should had caught up with it by the time the sun had risen half-way. Out loud, he asked about that.

"The General was in a hurry to reach the temple," Kol replied at again a near-shout. "Granakri expects him to be there at a certain time."

"Can Granakri summon Arceus if that General and everyone else _doesn't_ make it?" His primary objective was rescue. But in the course of it, if the two Pokémon-humans couldn't make it to their destination for some reason, assuming he and the others could somehow make that happen…then he certainly wouldn't complain if that helped out that Arceus Pokémon.

"Don't know. It sounded like all he needed was the other two orbs. But it certainly won't help if Enpersen isn't there. And I personally won't be disappointed wrecking their plans. _Bastards all of them!_"

Leo heard the continuing anger in Kol's voice, an emotion the man hadn't really been hiding that morning. It matched his own; anything he could do to punish those that took his friends would be satisfying. _Especially_ that one Pokémon-human who hit Lonny and hurt Blaze! Perhaps that wasn't the normal Pokémon way, but he used to be human, so he had an excuse!

All that besides, his only goal was rescuing Blaze, Grovyle, Lonny, Sally and his human self…maybe that other infernape too, whoever it was. As far as that went, he felt as determined as he ever had about anything! Further tightening his grab on the bar, he hung on as the view ahead appeared to become more open areas of sand.

Leo Hanson was hoping they were about to let them get out and stretch (and relieve themselves!) when the caravan stopped abruptly. But up ahead, the men in the lead truck lifted what seemed a tall aerial as the General began talking into a small microphone. Alternately speaking and waiting, this lasted a good moment. Eventually the Lieutenant exited his vehicle to approach the General and from the Lieutenant's raised voice, he could just make out something about a failed test, at which point the General jumped out and the two continued their conversation some distance away in private.

So…they couldn't contact the truck they left behind, he guessed. Unless they were trying to contact someone ahead of them…

Blaze and Grovyle both appeared to be straining to hear…while Lonny's mind looked elsewhere. In fact, she was just staring straight ahead, as if between him and Sally. He debated getting her attention to see if she was alright, but the conversation between the two hybrids ended with a angry-looking point to the south by the General, where only rocks and sand dominated. The same was ahead since there was very little grass now, but that seemed to become more flat, whereas in the south there were rocky hills rising above the landscape, looking every bit a rock desert. The air felt and even smelled drier than it had that morning, certainly they were a long way from the river by now.

After the hybrids returned to their vehicles, the General shouted orders to two trucks and in short order, the three vehicles headed off straight again, leaving the Lieutenant's vehicle, a supply vehicle...and their vehicle behind.

Some change of plans was clearly happening, especially given the soldiers in their truck looking confused. His heart beat faster with the fear of not knowing what was going to happen, and he was dying to ask his wife what she thought of this, or any of the Pokémon for that matter. He guessed the soldiers were still likely to take seriously their orders about stopping all talking by any means, though.

Perhaps they...were going to dispose of them here, despite what they said before about wanting to use them for their knowledge of dimensional gate technology?

Not at the current location at least, as the Lieutenant shouted orders to the remaining vehicles to follow him. Soon they were breaking from the track left by the General's vehicles, heading now south and toward the barren looking hills. Perhaps it was time to ask for some water…if he wasn't killed for it.

If there was just a way to find out where the hell they were going, if not to the temple which was where the General was presumably continuing toward. Feeling a touch on his hands, he responded by gripping Sally's. He felt her fear and wanted to lean against her, but even over more sand now, it was still too bumpy. On the other side of him, Blaze still managed to put his shoulder against his, and keep it there for a while. His body felt tense, as if...

...was the infernape thinking of trying something? A glance showed a certain determination on his red, heavy-browed face.

Then he realized: their odds improved; there were less than half the number of soldiers now...and only one hybrid!

As if that wasn't enough yet. Their hands were also still tied, and the two soldiers in the back with them still had their rifles at the ready. If only their odds could be improved a bit more and their hands untied…

Leo heard the radio crackle to life. It sounded like the voice of the General before Kol reached to turn it off. The Pokémon-human then seemed to curse, but didn't quite catch what. Instead, he had to tighten his grip further as Kol increased their speed! At least with the ground becoming more and more sand, it was getting softer in spots.

Floating alongside, Akri's tails were flying in the breeze as he wore an odd smile. On noticing his stare: "This is fun!"

"You have a strange idea of fun!" Leo returned. Granted, if not for the situation, it wouldn't have been as bad.

"Wind nice, sun nice, sand nice. You too sad. Things will be good! Must think so."

OK, the wind from the vehicle's motion did feel good on his head fins, almost countering the sun's hot rays near perfectly. Now, if only the air had some moisture in it! And of course he really wanted to think the rescue would be successful. Akri's tone was more like he knew, though.

Was that because the Guardian actually did know (like he seemed to know a number of things about the future), or was it Akri's attempt to keep his hopes up, to borrow yet another human expression?

The vehicle slowing got his attention as they came to a small sandy rise sparsely covered with grass, before they stopped just behind it and Kol shut off the engine.

"That transmission was close," Kol explained. "From back a ways, it looked like mostly flat land ahead of this rise. We need to see where they are and make a plan of attack."

The Pokémon-human opened the glove compartment, grabbing a pair of binoculars as Leo leapt off the truck. With Kol and Akri, he crawled up the short rise to peer over the edge. In the distance there was speck, directly in line with pairs of wheel tracks…except there also seemed…

Kol cursed quite forcibly beside him while looking through the optics. "They split up!"

"Where are my friends?" If they were split up too…

After spending a moment searching with the optics: "They are…together, I think," Kol answered. "They're pretty far, but they went left… Oh, only the Lieutenant is there." Moving the optics back to the original direction: "Enpersen's in the other group. Alright, well this should make rescue easier; the soldiers are split between them too…"

He nearly jumped with excitement; with only one hybrid and half the soldiers, rescue absolutely had to be easier! But: "Why did they split up?"

Akri lowered himself in front of them. "He he he, must make choice now."

Leo noted the glare Kol gave the Guardian for a half second before facing him, and taking away some of his excitement.

After a sigh: "Probably because they suspect me now, if I had to guess. They're forcing me…_us_ to make a choice of which path to follow. I think Enpersen thinks I care about the prisoners, so he's presenting a choice between rescue and trying to stop them from summoning Arceus and whatever that leads to. They must consider me enough of a threat if they're doing this, and they aren't completely certain they can beat me even together, so they're trying to buy time. Humph. Guess that's a compliment of sorts. _Unless…_they think I have help that tips the balance…"

"Well, I'm making the choice then," Leo said matter-of-factly. "We're rescuing Blaze, Lonny, Grovyle, Sally and my human self."

"We rescue first, then have friends help later!" Akri crowed.

He stared directly at Kol, expecting some resistance since Kol had already expressed desire to foil the General more than once.

Determination quickly set in the Pokémon-human's pale face. "Alright. Let's go get them. Having more help makes sense, and rescuing your friends is basically what I signed up for. But even with just the Lieutenant, this won't be easy; he's like me: he has a lot of power."

Kol's agreement came quicker than he expected, not that he wouldn't take it. "We took you down on that island, didn't we?" he pointed out in getting up and heading for the vehicle. It certainly hadn't been easy, though. It took everything he, Blaze, Grovyle, Celebi and all of Chris's Pokémon had to take Kol down. But they did do it.

"I only had two humans and a handful of Pokémon with me. There's at least ten soldiers with plenty of guns with this guy. And these guns aren't the pistols my men were carrying on the island; these are full auto submachine guns. Plus who knows how many Pokémon."

Leo knew about guns. He, Blaze and Grovyle were shot at by Kol's men on the mainland just as they were leaving for Fore-Nine Island. Such human weapons definitely earned his respect that day, especially considering Chris had been hit by one. On the other hand… "But we have _you_ now. You _can_ defeat that other Pokémon-human, can't you?" Of course if Kol couldn't, he _would_ take the Pokémon-human on despite any power disadvantage!

"I'd like to think so," Kol answered with a growing smile. "In any case, you should concentrate getting your friends to safety and I'll handle the soldiers and the Lieutenant."

Back in the truck, the Pokémon-human seemed to force the thing hard into gear, and it wasn't long before they were gaining on the speck that was the three trucks in the distance, one of them with a very precious cargo. Several times they disappeared behind small rocky hills in winding their way through the increasingly barren and hilly terrain. The sand became scarce, leaving mostly bare rock except where confined to crevasses or the sides of hills. And without the cushioning of sand, there were occasional bone-jarring bumps. He prayed for the truck not to break, but thankfully Kol seemed to avoid most the larger rocks. Then perhaps a good while later, they rounded one hill to find the three trucks dead ahead and nearly within reach!

His heart leapt at the sight and a tingling feeling shot into his fins and gills. "Faster!"

Kol shifted the truck into a higher gear, increasing their speed even more, even partly skidding around a sharp corner at the base of another small rise.

The point they were first spotted was hard to tell, as the last truck was loaded high with supplies, blocking a lot of the view. But they had obviously been spotted by the time they were only a couple truck lengths behind: the men in the truck shouted back to them, wanting them to stop. Indeed, they started slowing their own truck down.

"It's time to say hello," Kol shouted before raising his arm over the windshield and releasing a white arc…

The Spacial Rend hit the other truck, briefly lifting up the rear end of it in a explosion of sand and small rock. At once the men were yelling for a moment before the truck swerved severely. At first he thought it was because of the attack, but the bullets that started flying past proved another reason.

"Akri, can you…" he started to say, but Akri already had his eyes closed. In the span of only a few more bullets, two men went flying off the truck, landing somewhere far to the side amid rocks and sand.

Akri giggled. "He he, I no like those things!"

Which now left only the driver.

Kol took advantage as they approached a wider spot between two hills, maneuvering the truck to nearly alongside. Then…Leo got his first look at his friends from close-up…only a couple lengths ahead! Yet there was no time to wave, yell or anything…the driver of the truck beside them was bringing a handgun to bear…

"Go to Hell!" Kol yelled, responding with a thunderbolt and convulsing the man. After swerving the truck into the other with a crunch of metal, he forced it off to the side, where it quickly slowed after hitting an incline, then rolling over behind them in a cloud of sand and dust!

Finally...there was nothing between his and his friends! Except for the two soldiers on the back of that vehicles with two serious-looking guns, that was…two guns that were now being trained on them!

Lonny forced the scream back down her throat as a cloud of dust exploded around the truck behind them, showering forward over them despite their speed.

"What the…" Sally started to say as their truck swerved, with the sound of guns firing next filling the air.

The moment from a year and a half ago came back to her when she was defending the dock behind Christina's house, the men controlled by Kol unleashing their human weapons against her Leo, Blaze and the others as they were attempting to leave. She fought with everything she had, but was facing a Blastoise. After only managing to distract one of the three humans, she had to save Christina from being hit by throwing her into the water. Then…she could only hope Leo got away.

He did.

But now…

"Look!"

She hadn't looked away, but on Grovyle's shout, had to refocus. Behind them in the cloud of dust their own vehicle was kicking up, two of the three humans went flying out of the rear truck…then a second truck came roaring along it. Kol was in it, she realized with a start. And he unleashed a thunderbolt attack against the driver…

_What was that Pokémon-human creature doing?_

Then she noticed the other thing…something that shocked her bad enough that she froze, eyes wide, and not comprehending what they were telling her. A swampert was riding in the back...

At the back of their own truck, the two soldiers started aiming their weapons as the Lieutenant in the lead truck was shouting orders to fire.

"It's Leo!" Blaze said, sounding in disbelief himself as he partly got up.

Lonny immediately decided what to do. She'd been working on her bonds for a long while; they had to come off…_now!_

Leo Hanson stared in disbelief: Kol was attacking the last truck of the convoy! And then, he spotted something else that made him wonder if he was delusional: a smaller-than-average swampert riding in the bed of Kol's vehicle. His Pokémon counterpart!

He was…_alive after all?_

Things then began happening almost too fast to follow: across the bed of the truck, Lonny slipped off the rope that had been binding her hands together and launched herself at the two soldiers in the back, both of whom were preparing to fire on Kol. A heartbeat behind, Blaze's mane puffed, even against the wind, as he used flames on the rope around his hands before rushing at them as well, unleashing a second much larger flamethrower which had one of the two soldiers instantly screaming. That soldier fell off the back as his companion was literally thrown off by Lonny.

Behind them, Kol seemed to swerve his truck to avoid them as all this didn't go unnoticed by the three soldiers sitting in the front seat. Two of them pulled out Pokéballs, releasing…

He didn't know what, there was no time to think, but he had to do _something_ about the arcanine that was immediately beside him, tied hands or not! Raising his legs and swiveling, he gave the large fire dog the hardest kick to its front leg as he could muster, surprisingly forcing it into the graveler beside it…

To his further surprise, Ruby jumped up screaming to wrap her arms around the graveler, almost as if wrestling it.

After fighting against the vehicle motion to get up, he used all his strength in plowing shoulder-first into the large, steel-like arcanine, hoping either Lonny or Blaze could get Grovyle and Sally unbound quickly. If not, he probably was about to get burned alive…

"What are you doing?" Leo screamed.

Kol pulled somewhat alongside the truck where Blaze, Lonny, even his human self were fighting against Pokémon the three remaining soldiers were releasing. But he was giving the truck a wide berth and seemed to floor the accelerator yet again to blow past!

The man didn't answer, and Leo followed his stare to the lead vehicle. On it, the massive load of supplies that was piled on the large rear bed was being blown off, leaving a view of only the Pokémon-human Lieutenant standing there. In less than a heartbeat, one of the two soldiers that had been in the front seat joined him, racing to the rear of the truck bed with a large, menacing-looking gun.

With only a second to help his friends, he shot a Water Pulse back at the soldiers in the front seat of the "prisoner" truck, knocking several Pokéballs out of their hands and even getting part of the arcanine. Then they were past it, where Kol cut in front and didn't let off the gas any, closing the distance with the slowing lead vehicle…rapidly!

Leo could hardly brace himself before they rammed, a massive jar that sent him over the low bar and into the front seat, pinching his large rear fin against the dash in the process. Worse, the soldier who had been at the back on the other truck went tumbling over the hood, landing on top of him! The large gun dropped, eventually hitting the floor in part...

Feeling the soldier already moving for it, he reached his arm around and found something to grab...the human's shoulder, and closed his grip as the flash and boom of a released thunderbolt came from overhead. Twisting to force the human toward the open door, he reared kicked hard with his large foot, sending the soldier out the side. He hoped the human wouldn't be getting up since his attention was forced to the Pokémon-human now rushing at them over the other truck bed!

A white arc erupted from the swinging Pokémon-human's hand...met by one released by Kol! The collision of the Spacial Rends made for an impressive explosion, shattering the windshield and sending glass flying everywhere...while the Lieutenant blew backwards in the lead truck to hit the front of the bed.

"I am _not_ letting him get away!" Kol growled after ducking the blast. "I'm taking that son of a bitch out right now!"

Leo read the rage on Kol's face despite the sunglasses. Far be it for him to argue; the other Pokémon-human represented a serious danger if he wasn't defeated. Further, he hurt Lonny! Before Kol unleashed anything else, he released a Water Pulse straight ahead before even bothering to aim. There was no need; he knew where the hybrid was...and his shot nailed the young-looking Pokémon-human just as he was getting up, knocking him over the bar and back into the front seat with the powerful wall of water.

Sparing a quick and worried look back, his friends seemed to be getting the upper hand in the truck behind them; Lonny was in the front seat, pummeling one of the soldiers. The arcanine had fallen, under attack by both Blaze and the second infernape as Grovyle leapt into the front…

Movement ripped his attention back to the scene in front, with Kol releasing another thunderbolt…

…under which the Lieutenant ducked with the bolt harmlessly hitting the windshield. The remaining human, the driver, seemed to then find the truck's accelerator as the vehicle lurched away and separating the two vehicles again.

Kol growled, flooring their own accelerator. "We aren't done!"

The sooner this ended, the better! Standing up, he grasped shattered windshield's top frame and prepared to release another water pulse, right as the Lieutenant seemed to shout an order to his driver. The truck then acted like it hit a wall and in a split second, their own truck slammed _hard_ into the back with a tremendous crunch!

Leo flipped in flying over the windshield frame, landing on top of the hood and half rolled, half slid into the other truck's bed. Before he could get up, the lead truck accelerated once again and the booted feet of the Lieutenant hit the bed floor up front. The white flashes of two Spacial Rends slightly illuminated the wood deck; Leo watched one arc impact the front of Kol's truck while the other shot just overhead. Impacted by the later, Akri went tumbling backward in mid-air; Kol seemed to fight with the steering as the truck went veering out-of-control to one side, nearly flipping as the distance between them rapidly increased…

He nearly yelled out Akri's name, but the Guardian was already out of sight, having fallen to the ground well behind Kol's truck…

"_You_ must be the swampert that traitor Kol talked about!" he heard a not-so-deep voice say over the engine noise.

Without Kol, he was now alone he realized…

"Not surprising he didn't kill you as he claimed!" the man continued. "I thought he was lying, but Enpersen was foolish!"

As the truck's acceleration leveled out, Leo righted himself as his rear fin and left shoulder continued to smart. Before him, the Pokémon-human was hanging onto the padded bar between the truck bed and the front seat, wearing a grin (and still dripping wet). Up this close, there was no mistaking he was of the same race as Kol, with the boyish face, pale skin and white hair, cut to only medium-length. "And you're the one who was holding my friends captive and hit Lonny!" he returned.

"Ha…it speaks not in Poké language!" the young man sneered. "Well, _your friends_ had something belonging to us! And now Kol thinks he's going to rescue them with _you_?_!_ The General should of killed him eight years ago. Oh well, I'll do it now, but I'll start with you, stupid little Pokémon!"

Despite the odds, Leo seethed with what this man did to Lonny and Blaze, and he didn't wait for the hybrid to make any move before nailing him with another Water Pulse. If this Pokémon-human had anything close to the power Kol had, he couldn't allow him any chance whatsoever anyway, especially taking him on by himself! As the hybrid's lower back slammed back into the bar, he jumped forward, fist glowing.

The Pokémon-human's recovery was faster than anything he'd seen. In the course of only three steps, the man was already unleashing a thunderbolt. The convulsing energy hitting his chest spread out to become debilitating in the extreme. In fact, it reminded him of Snarky the ampharos's electrical attack. And like that attack, he collapsed to the truck's wooden floor, clutching his chest and gasping.

And then…a headache. A very bad headache. A psychic attack? Of course Kol used that on him, but it hadn't felt like it did now. Through watery eyes, he looked up to recognize a certain hand gesture…

…for a dimensional bubble!

Desperation fueled his strength to get off the floor and run forward with a weakly glowing fist. The Lieutenant's face froze in surprise after he connected with the man's stomach and doubling him over. Still, the hybrid countered with a likewise glowing fist, forcing him back after a uppercut into his own stomach.

Over the seconds, the pain from the hit continued increasing, almost causing him to throw up, even as the hybrid started swiping his still glowing hand in front of him. He flatten himself against the truck floor again as the white arc passed scarcely above. No…it hit his large rear fin…and…

He wanted to scream in pain from that, during which the hybrid took advantage to stand up, again forming his hand in a certain gesture. "You're tougher than most, but you're up against one of the Ruler Race, stupid creature! No Pokémon stands a chance!"

Leo was getting tired of being called stupid. He wanted to charge forward. But he was tired and hurting and moving proved suddenly painful and difficult. Yet a released thunderbolt forced him to. Sliding to the side, he narrowly avoided it with another bolt exploding against the wooden side near his one leg.

As the hybrid readied with another white-glowing hand, the driver looked back, sneering. "Get it, sir, so we can go back to teach that traitor a lesson!"

Bastards. But this was one battle he couldn't win, which truly, he had already guessed. The only option left was escape while he could still move.

In time with the Lieutenant starting to swing his hand, he started leaping toward the other side of the truck and out, intending to avoid the Spacial Rend…only at some point they'd entered a narrow passage between two hills, and a leap of any distance would result hitting near-vertical rock at the break-neck speed the truck was now going!

Only a quick reaction allowed him to grab the low truck wall and abort his leap just in time, though he ended up hanging onto the outside of the truck with his spiky gills on one side of his face uncomfortably bent against the side. Below, the racing ground inches below his dangling large feet indicated a speed ever greater than he realized…and the rock wall was nearly at his rear fin! Letting go or climbing back in seemed equally bad choices. A moment later the Pokémon-human was laughing, and Leo became horrified as the man ordered the driver to brush against the rock!

Maybe climbing back in would be _slightly_ better! But first… Straining to raise his head above the side, he filled his mouth from his fast-depleting reserves and forced out a Water Pulse at the hybrid. The man ducked, allowing most of the thin, high-speed water wall to sail past and hit the driver. The human's head and shoulders were forced violently forward into the steering wheel; the human was clearly knocked out! Immediately, the truck was veering toward the other side of the narrow passage and was soon scraping against it in a shower of sparks before being jolted back the other way…

Fighting both the movement and his own exhaustion, Leo raised himself up and struggled back in. The hybrid also was fighting against the violent movements of the out of control truck in an attempt to get over the bar and into the front seat.

That's when he really noticed it: a shovel partly tied to the left-side of the bed. Plunging himself toward that side, he ripped it away and lunged forward with fear-fueled strength. A last-second bump made sure his blow was only a glancing one, but it got the Lieutenant across one leg, making him scream.

"YOU!" The hybrid started swinging around, hand glowing…

Grabbing the man's forearm in his three-fingered hand, he stopped the attack dead. Then using his other to grab the man's head, he shoved it hard into the padded bar. Again and again he smashed the man's head down, shaking with fear that if he gave the Pokémon-human even an instant, he would get off a fatal attack.

Then anger set in. "You hit Lonny, you bastard!" timing the shoves with each word as his rage grew, threatening to overwhelm him. All the time he spent after being separated, everything he had gone through to get to this damned planet, and the fact that this Pokémon-human was in league with the creature that tried to kill all of them… "HOW DARE YOU HURT MY FRIENDS!"

He paused just an instant after a particularly hard shove, feeling through the man's head that it had went through all the padding to strike something harder. He was on the edge. Should he continue and risk killing the man, or should he… Even through his rage, he felt himself at a point he wouldn't have thought before to cross…

Panting, sweating, and shaking, he held firm onto the hybrid's head. The man started struggling harder, but still he hesitated shoving him back down one last time…even as the Pokémon-human's body started glowing purple, as if preparing to unleash...

Something through his peripheral vision got a slim moment of his attention, something that was rapidly changing up ahead...

With a loud growl, the Lieutenant pushed backward, landing an elbow into his stomach as his hand burned bright purple! "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

As fast as he possibly could, Leo completely let go of the hybrid, swung around and ran on all fours to literally leap off the back despite the truck's speed. Hitting the ground stomach first and sliding backward over the hard rock and scarce sand was of the most painful things he'd ever experienced. His thick and tough blue and white skin felt like it was being scraped off with course grit sandpaper! And he slid a long ways…all the way to the edge of the cliff. He barely heard the Lieutenant's scream grow distant as the truck plunged down, finally ending with the sound of a crash far below.

Which was a fate he nearly shared with one leg dangling over the crumbling edge!

With the last of his strength, he pulled himself from the edge a few feet before collapsing. The searing pain from his entire underside faded as he started slipping out of consciousness, his last thought hoping his dear friends might now finally be safe…

Leo Hanson strained with his wife in forcing the heavy rock-like graveler off the side of the truck before climbing into the front seat. Grovyle, Blaze and Ruby had already attacked and subdued two of the three men there, sending them tumbling outside. Balling his fist, he landed it on the last soldier's face, who also happened to be driving the truck. He prepared for another strike as the man struggled to simultaneously drive and aim his gun as Blaze grabbed his arm.

"Just clobber him!" Lonny shouted before charging forward and landing her own fists on the man's head with a heavy swing. The man went unconscious as the former swampert shook her hands and swore from obvious pain.

With the truck starting to veer, Leo hurriedly helped Blaze and Lonny get the driver slid over before taking the wheel. With scarce notice, they passed where Kol seemed to be stuck with his disabled truck.

Was that man really helping them, or was it just some inter-species squabble? He sure as heck wasn't about to stop and find out, and hit the gas to try and catch up to the lead vehicle where he thought he saw his swampert counterpart at last glance. That truck was carrying the Lieutenant. If they were to fight, his counterpart wouldn't stand a chance by himself! At least with Blaze and Grovyle, there might be one. And if it came to it, he would fight too, just like he was sure Lonny would. Maybe even Ruby…

"Faster, damnit!" Lonny yelled nearly into his ear from behind his head and pounding the bar over the top of the seat. "Leo can't face that damned human Pokémon thing by himself! Then I'll have to make that man pay!"

Flooring the accelerator, he also didn't want to see his counterpart perish just as they found out he was still alive after thinking he was dead (for the second time).

After some moments of speeding over the axle-busting rocky and sandy ground with alternating areas of narrow passage and open areas, they came around a very slight curve, where two things he noticed immediately: one, there was an edge they were fast approaching and the scene beyond gave the impression it was a long way down; two, there was a swampert laying damned near the edge!

He slammed the brakes, getting only one curse before everyone hopped, jumped or otherwise rushed out of the truck. Reaching his counterpart scarcely after Lonny, he could see the swampert was in bad shape, sporting serious scratches and scrapes and was most certainly unconscious.

Sally mumbled something about finding a first aid kit as she hurried back to the truck. Too bad theirs was packed into one of their backpacks…which had in turn been put onto one of the trucks lead by General Enpersen. Grovyle seemed to join her in searching the truck, but after a few moments Sally yelled she couldn't find anything that would help. Of course, it had been the only truck that hadn't been carrying any cargo (prisoners being it's cargo).

"Leo!"

Kneeling, both Lonny and Blaze were trying to wake the swampert…to no avail. There was of course, a point where a Pokémon was so hurt or had used so much energy, their body would just shut down for a while and they would faint. Depending on the degree, they could be out for a while. This seemed it would be one of the longer times.

Unless…

Putting a hand on the Pokémon's neck, he felt the pulse.

Thank God.

Wondering with some alarm how stable the ground was, he carefully went the few steps to the edge of the cliff. It looked mostly solid, but far down below was what appeared as the burning wreck of the truck his counterpart had been on. So they didn't have to worry about the Lieutenant then, unless he jumped off too. Or…could a hybrid survive that? They couldn't fly that he knew about.

Returning, he joined Ruby in watching Lonny and Blaze do whatever they could for the swampert, which was little other then rub him. Ruby formed an almost curious look about her yellow and blue eyes, her tail barely moving.

"That's the other Leo," he informed as Sally and Grovyle returned empty-handed except for a couple good-sized jugs.

"We have water at least," Sally announced, Grovyle holding his jug out to Ruby.

That was definitely something, as he suddenly became conscious of the overhead sun beating down. A moment later, he because conscious of something else before he swung around. Shortly, the noise came around the slight bend to reveal itself as Kol's truck and at once, Blaze and Grovyle put themselves between it and everyone else, Lonny giving a hiss…

"What's that floating Pokémon near him?" Sally asked in a near-whisper as the truck stopped a respectable distance behind their own. "Thought I saw it when they passed…"

"Probably one of the Pokémon belonging to those Pokémon-humans," Lonny spat, balling her fists up and positioning herself between and just behind Blaze and Grovyle.

Curiously, the hybrid first seemed to rummage for something in the back of the truck before climbing out with a pack.

Leo had the sense of something in his mouth. Something mild and sweet, semi-soft in texture…and packed with a potent, natural, fast-acting drug! After instinctively swallowing, his eyes flew open.

"Keep eating these, Leo," a voice from above urged in Poké speak.

The only thing he could see in front of him was two five-fingered hands, one purple and one light-blue, both holding chucks of sitrus berry. He downed them from both hands like his mouth has a mind of its own before looking up. Blaze, Lonny, Sally, Grovyle and his human self...all around him. The first three had tears and as he got up, then everyone pressed against him, hugging (except for his human self, of course, and the second infernape).

So long he'd been waiting for this and so many times doubting it would happen. Now, here they were, together with him! Within a heartbeat, he couldn't fight his own tears, and they streamed down his face as well as Blaze's and Lonny's.

"Leo, I thought...you were dead!" Lonny choked out.

"We _all_ thought you were," Sally added, putting her head against the side of his.

Blaze seemed lost for words as he just hugged the tightest from the side, his wet muzzle pressing against his shoulder.

He was trying to return the hugs as best he could, first wrapping one of his large arms around Blaze's smaller back, then working in both Lonny and Sally together. With a hand, he worked his fingers into his best friend's fiery haired mane, almost afraid if he didn't get a tighter grip, he would be taken from him again. Likewise, he kept a grip on both Lonny and Sally, maybe too tight... finally loosening it many, many heartbeats later.

"Leo, please, please, please don't leave us again, ha ha!" Blaze seemed to plead through tears that continued to flow.

"Yes, don't you dare leave again!" Lonny warned as she stood back a step, sniffling. "Or I'll have to kill you."

"No more plunging over cliffs, OK?" Sally added.

Smiling weakly, "Well, I avoided this one," Leo replied, pointing backwards slightly and getting equally weak and nervous laughs in return.

"You really need to be more careful," Grovyle said from behind all this.

He knew how they must have thought how he met his end. Certainly their last sight of him would have been him falling into the island's trench. He also thought it was the end of him until a certain someone intervened. Searching past the mass of bodies pressing against him, he spotted the unfamiliar infernape a couple steps behind everyone, seemingly smiling gently but looking unsure. She also looked a little on the skinny side. Starving? He also couldn't help noting she was female, and in rather unusual ways for an infernape. Behind her and his human self, Kol stood by the nearest of two trucks, Akri floating near him. "Believe me, I didn't take any more risk than I had to to get here and help rescue all of you."

"You look a little beat up, though," his human self pointed out.

Looking down at himself, he found his entire front covered with serious-looking scrapes, scratches and bruises. That and his rear fin was throbbing. At least the sitrus berries were helping...quite a bit as the seconds passed.

After another moment of just exchanging touches and getting a kiss from Sally, they all finally parted, but both Blaze and Lonny remaining extremely close. "So…who's that?" pointing to the other infernape. In addition to odd female attributes and coloration, there just seemed something about her he couldn't put his large blue finger on.

"That's Ruby," Blaze explained after wiping his face with the back of his haired hand. "We found and rescued her several days ago."

His human self basically repeated the same in not understanding what Blaze had just said.

"Really?" Leo asked, wanting to know more, but noticed Kol now pacing. Akri floated around the hybrid almost as if dancing in the air, wearing the biggest smile of anyone even with his small face.

Ruby flashed a wider smile briefly across her paler red face, obviously hesitant to approach. "Hello. You are a swampert?"

"I used to look just like him," Lonny interjected. "Only bigger. And stronger."

The female infernape looked between him and Lonny a few times, her mouth gaping and tail twitching.

"We can't stay here too long," Kol called over.

"Can we trust him?" his human self asked, getting equally questioning stares from both Sally and Lonny.

"He brought what he says is your pack that had those sitrus berries in it," Grovyle added.

Blaze hissed in the direction of the Pokémon-human as his mane puffed some. "He said he killed you when we were back in that human camp. But now he says he's been helping you all along and he's on our side. What's going on?"

"That's going to take a bit of explaining," Leo replied, wondering in how much detail he should go. He knew why Kol was acting impatient, and also why he wasn't taking off on his own.

"But I have no idea who that strange floating Pokémon is. It kind of looks like Azelf, but different," Grovyle added.

"And not that I'm not happy you did, but just how did you survive when you went over the edge back inside the island?" his human self asked.

At once, there were five curious faces staring at him. "I have Akri to thank," pointing to the Guardian.

The Guardian seemed to take that as a cue to approach in straight swoop as everyone turned. "Hi hi again," the light-blue Pokémon said. "We all together now!"

"Huh?" Blaze asked, curiously staring at the Pokémon.

"This is Akri. He was hiding in that trench while we were there, and used his psychic ability to stop me from hitting the bottom. When I got back to the top, all of you were gone."

"That's because that charizard-like Pokémon we were fighting triggered the portal there," Sally said. "We found out it's named Granakri, and it showed up while we were being held in that General's camp…"

"I know," Leo said. "I saw it there. Kol also told me quite a bit about that Pokémon. I'm just glad we didn't have to battle him again. But first, I want to hear what happened to you guys. That, and I used so many water pulses, I'm dying of thirst!" That brought out a canteen of water, which he quickly downed several large gulps from. Then he listened to the story of what happened after everyone was transported, through which Kol kept reminding them they needed to hurry. Leo couldn't help but to ask for a few details about how they found Ruby and how she lead them the Griseous orb, though.

"Yeah, and I think Dialga and Palkia are alive; the General implied they were!" Blaze added excitedly. "But we don't know where."

Lonny repeated what Blaze said in human speak, adding a "Probably being held somewhere."

All through this, Kol showed increasing impatience. As a result, Leo kept to just the highlights in going through part of his story of returning from the island and going to Earth.

Halfway-through: "Look why are we supposed to be in such a hurry?" Sally asked loudly, directing it to the Pokémon-human. "Is that General guy supposed to come back here or something?"

"I think your swampert is getting to that, if he'd hurry!" Kol shouted back.

Leo sighed with annoyance, but rushed to the subject of Granakri and what Kol learned in camp the previous night, especially of that concerning Kol's origins. Then alarm spread on everyone's faces, Blaze even baring his teeth.

"The same people who engineered Kol's hybrid race, actually created Granakri first, but made him too powerful?" Sally reiterated.

"Well, that explains a few things," Grovyle added, almost shockingly calm. "No ordinary charizard should be that powerful, and he looked different too."

"And he's been controlling nearly all of my kind to serve him since," Kol's voice said after approaching. "Granakri is my true enemy and those few of my kind fighting with me. _He_ was the one who I've been fighting all these years, only I never suspected it, because we'd all been taught Granakri had been defeated centuries ago!"

Indecision spread across Blaze's white-hair framed face as he stared back. "But…you were being controlled too, while on Earth?"

Kol nodded. "Regretfully. And…for what I had done to hurt all of you back then, I apologize. My true self is who you see before you, and my goal is what it was before." More forcefully: "To force my own kind to relinquish control on my world and stop practically enslaving everyone else."

"I…don't know," Leo heard his human self reply hesitantly, a sentiment basically echoed by Lonny and Sally in their expressions.

"He good now," Akri said, although the humans couldn't understand him.

Grovyle hissed, folding his slender arms across his equally slender red chest. "One question: Leo, do you believe him?"

"He _has_ done nothing but help since I found him," Leo replied in human speak, keeping tone mostly noncommittal, though hinting support. Then, he decided the Pokémon-human did, in fact, earn his trust. "Actually, _yes_, I do believe him." Even a day ago, what he just uttered would have greatly surprised him. There just was no denying his actions since, however.

"Finally," Kol replied, although his look said he was barely listening. "Now, we need to get to the temple to stop what Granakri has planned, and we need to hurry."

"What?" Blaze asked, whipping around and glaring at the Pokémon-human, his red-yellow mane puffing.

"Hey, we just escaped from them!" Lonny shouted.

Grovyle nodded as he started stroking his wrist-leafs. "I don't think going there would be wise, considering who is supposed to be there."

The human Leo went further: "Look, thank for saving Leo here, and us, but if you want to go there, feel free. The rest of us I think just want to go home. We're tried and battered. Especially my swampert counterpart."

"I'd rather not go there either," the new infernape, Ruby, piped in while brushing something out of the red hair of her arm.

Of course, neither did he, Leo thought in focusing on the fully-upright infernape for an instant. But maybe…they did have to go and try and stop what Granakri was trying to do. If only he knew what that Pokémon's goal was! There was also the other matter of needing Kol to open the portal back to the Poké world. So if he didn't want to return with them to that spot, then…

"Not matter, we must go!" Instantly, Akri achieved getting everyone's attention.

Especially Blaze's.

"No way!" the infernape shouted back. "Going there sounds like certain death!" Facing Leo: "In fact, this sounds way worse than stopping Primal Dialga at the top of Temporal Tower, Darkrai in Dark Crater, or even _you_ on that island on Earth!" finishing with a tail whip and an angry look at Kol.

"Bad things happen if we don't!" Akri warned.

"Such as?" Grovyle asked, raising an eye ridge.

Akri looked down with a sigh, tails falling limp. "Don't know. Just…we must help stop what will happen."

"_What_ will happen?" the grass-type pressed. Then to Leo after a brief silence: "He seems to know a lot," pointing a claw Akri's way. "Not very forthcoming, though."

"Tell me about it," Kol injected.

Cueing on both his human self's and Sally's waiting looks, Leo translated the conversation, noting Kol looking ever more impatient, even looking like he was gauging the time by judging the sun's position.

"So you don't know what will happen, but you still think we should go and face that Pokémon one more time?" Lonny shouted as if she lost her own patience. "Hey, I just got my Leo back; there is _no way_ I'm letting him get hurt or killed again!" Pointing a finger directly at the hybrid, "And YOU, the last time he ran into…"

"You do have a lot of nerve asking, considering what you nearly did to us the last time we met, brain washing or not!" Sally added angrily, cutting Lonny off.

Leo watched the argument with slight detachment. Akri's push to get them to go with Kol surprised him some. The Guardian hadn't given any outward sign before of wanting to help Kol with his mission. Did he feel the situation was that serious…did he know more than he was telling (already a given on several things), or...?

"Listen, damnit!" Kol shot back. Pointing to Leo, "He just told you about Granakri and that he's going to summon the Pokémon Arceus! And you already experienced _first hand_ how powerful Granakri is! That Pokémon isn't just dangerous, it's thirsty for control! I just found out yesterday he's been in control of my world for centuries, and was the one who had my race created in the first place! Why?" Not waiting for anyone to answer: "To exert his control from the shadows while having a loyal army of powerful and intelligent humans with Pokémon abilities at his disposal!"

Leo hadn't mentioned that part about the history of Kol's race due to the lack of time. Judging from the looks of Blaze, Grovyle and the others, it came as a shock.

"That's...true?" Blaze asked in a worried whisper, his tail flicking. "That Pokémon could do such a thing?"

Leo nodded. "That's what Kol said. More of that genetic engineering stuff."

Lonny's face scowled. "Still don't understand all that," she huffed with her arms folded across her chest.

Kol's face had become reddened from its normally pale shade, but he was already visibly calming. Continuing after a deep breath: "If Arceus is the Pokémon we were told he is, what do you think Granakri wants with him? It can't possibly be good." Then ticking off points with his fingers: "Consider that Granakri's plan has apparently been in the works for many years, was worth capturing both Dialga and Palkia for, as well as obtaining the Griseous orb. Again, I don't know what he's after exactly, but what do you _think_ such a powerful Pokémon wants? Odds are, something bad for everyone else if he got it, don't you think?"

"You said Arceus is the _original_ Pokémon?" Sally asked, somewhat questionably.

"That's what that skarmory told us," Leo answered for Kol.

"I think I heard of a legend about that Pokémon once," his human self added. "Can't remember all of it, but something along the lines of the creator of the world, or of all Pokémon, or something like that."

"Right, imagine a Pokémon like Granakri with the power of creation under his control," Kol proposed. "Or perhaps something worse." Scarcely a half-second later: "And now that he met you, he may want to pay _Earth_ a visit sometime. It was Granakri that had nearly destroyed my world, so long ago. No reason to think he couldn't do the same to your planet."

Lowering himself down, Akri twisted his tails together. "Will…be…bad. We must go; try to stop!"

After another silent moment: "Your help…would be appreciated," the Pokémon-human continued, almost begging in tone. "As strong as I am, General Enpersen alone will be a challenge for me. And besides, I just helped you, now I need you to return the favor."

"_Favor?_" Lonny spat with a growl as she turned around, but looking more worried than anything on her light blue human face.

Blaze's mane lost its puff as he looked down, one ear giving a twitch. "If it's that important, but Leo…I don't know. The last time we faced that Pokémon…we thought you died. And we would have too if he hadn't decided to leave us."

"If Kol is right, perhaps we need to consider trying," Grovyle added carefully, slowly stroking another of his wrist leaves.

Leo wanted nothing better than to go home. Kol, once again, had a good argument. But…he had to consider his friends now too. Looking toward the humans, both Sally and his other self appeared to be looking to him for a decision.

"Just what can we do against such a Pokémon though?" Grovyle asked, facing up to Kol. "Exactly how are we supposed to stop him? By stealing one of the two remaining orbs now?"

Leo translated that as Kol nodded.

"If we can get there in time, before Granakri arrives, we would only face the General and his remaining men," the Pokémon-human answered. "We take them out first, then there would only be Granakri. In that case, I'm hoping to destroy one or both of the orbs he'll have with him, leaving him unable to summon Arceus. But we need to _hurry_," as he looked past everyone and toward the horizon. "We have to backtrack around this cliff and drive as fast as we can. According to the maps, the temple is another fifty kilometers southwest. The more time we waste here, the greater the chance Granakri will already be there."

"Trying to stop such a creature goes beyond dangerous," the human Leo said. Then after a shaky sigh in which the human exchanged a look with Sally, "But is there a choice? If Earth or the Poké world would be in danger…"

"They very well could, although I can't say for certain," Kol provided.

"…perhaps then we should go."

Leo opened his mouth to answer in support as a tiny flash of light in the sky got his attention. Actually…several.

"No we don't!" Lonny protested, her fists clenched. "We just got…"

"Lonny, it sounds serious," Grovyle interrupted with a clawed hand on her forearm. "I imagine the danger may be even greater than from Temporal Tower collapsing." As Lonny tried to break free from the grass-type: "That Pokémon can teleport, just like Palkia. Imagine if he _did_ come to Earth. He's already been to the Poké world, although he must have been preoccupied with the island and it's portal. Now imagine if he acquires something that makes him even more powerful or gain the ability to control all of us. We're probably the only ones right now who have any ability to prevent that. We have to try. Especially considering Arceus is involved."

"You know of him?" Blaze asked.

Grovyle nodded. "It was some things I read during my studies of the Unown language. Though mostly just legends, it was enough that I will say we don't want Granakri to gain anything from Arceus."

"More fighting?" Ruby asked weakly, gaining everyone's attention.

The flashes of light in the sky had grown strong, and Leo thought he could make out the shapes of birds just before they dropped below the surrounding hills. Grovyle briefly appeared to have noticed them too at the last second.

"Probably," Kol answered Ruby's question. "But we need to go now. Damn, the General must be almost there by now!"

Blaze leaned close: "Leo, do you really think we need try?"

Leo turned his attention from the horizon to Blaze, then to his human self as the human addressed Kol: "When is Granakri supposed to get there? The General was driving everyone pretty fast, there's no way we can go fast enough to make up any kind of time. If we still have far to go, they're going to have a lot of time before we get there."

The Pokémon-human grimaced, before banging his fist into the nearest truck. "Don't know exactly when Granakri will teleport in. Probably soon, which just means we have to drive as fast as…"

First one squawk, then multiple squawks erupted from seemingly everywhere as a dozen golden skarmorys, one after the other, floated above the two small hills surrounding them at the cliff's edge. One by one, they landed on the rocks above…with one larger than the rest alighting upon the highest point gracefully as it folded its metallic wings.

Immediately everyone except Kol and Akri looked apprehensive. "Friends, I think," Leo provided quickly. Then up to the largest bird: "Uononi?"

"Sorry I'm late!" the skarmory squawked back. "Needed time to gather my flock. You saved your friends, though! Did I hear you want to go to Arceus's temple?"

"Leo?" Blaze asked, cocking his head as he stepped even closer to put a hand to his shoulder. "That's the same skarmory we saw before. That's the one who talked to you and took the Griseous orb?"

"Uh huh," Leo whispered back. Up to Uononi: "We're thinking about it!" But really, how much more thinking did they have to do?

"To try and stop the humans that are going there now?" the bird asked.

"Yes, we want to stop them, Uononi!" Kol returned. "That one large Pokémon you took the orb from, his name is Granakri, and he's arriving also to summon Arceus with the two remaining orbs!"

That elicited no small amount of alarmed squawking among the skarmorys. Finally Uononi replied: "We will carry you!"

Kol practically snorted before slapping the hood of the one truck, getting more than a few stares and giving the impression he momentarily lost his mind. "Well well, perhaps luck really is with us!" the Pokémon-human finally said.

Blaze nodded, "Leo, I trust you to make the right decision for us. Actually, both of you," with a nod to the other Leo.

Turning his slender head around, Grovyle nodded in agreement. "I also."

Leo paraphrased what Blaze and Grovyle said.

His human self sighed, "Well, going up against that bunch again I'll admit has me scared. But…if you guys think it's the right thing to do, we of course will be right behind you."

"Absolutely," Sally agreed. With a point: "After all, we just got you back. We aren't going to let you out of our sight again, Mister!"

So they were all leaving it to him? He turned himself to look past the cliff edge, obstinately towards Arceus's temple, feeling torn. On one hand, Kol put forth a convincing argument to try and prevent Granakri from doing what he was going to do. On the other hand, did they have any reasonable chance getting one of the two orbs from him, let alone defeat him? Kol said his ancestors couldn't take the Pokémon down, and they supposedly had an entire army. And looking at Lonny's pleading stare…

He felt her grasp his shoulder, followed by her head resting on it.

In a whisper: "Leo…I'm not scared of any of those humans, Pokémon or whatever is in between. But I _am_ scared of losing you again. Please tell me going there won't do any good! But if that's what _has_ to be done, I will be by your side, mate."

He faced her, reaching to wipe a tear with his oversized hand. Then turning to Blaze on his other side, he found his partner looking off into the distance as a breeze kicked up, stirring his red and yellow mane under the hot early afternoon sun. "I'm just plain scared about doing this, the same as it was when we went to face Dialga at Temporal Tower. But I have to think, if we're fighting for good, we will prevail."

To that, Lonny sighed practically into his ear. Reaching his arms around both of them: "I know. I'm scared too, but that Granakri seems to be a huge threat." If he didn't know for certain that Kol needed help in facing the General and Granakri, he'd be more than happy to decline. But there was another he should consult…

Turning as best he could to Ruby, who hadn't moved from her spot since he first woke up: "What do you think?"

The female infernape appeared surprised at the question. Her gentle light-red face conveyed thought for a moment before looking back up. "I only just met you, though Blaze, Lonny, Sally and the other Leo talked about you many times. I think…" She glanced to everyone in turn, including Kol and Akri, "like everyone else, I will trust your judgment, especially if this Leo does," gesturing to the human.

Her accent was definitely odd and hard to understand, but he got most of it. And that meant the entire decision now rested on his shoulders. Well, some decision! Although his nerves were already setting in from what was likely ahead, he worked up as much bravado as he could: "Let's go to Arceus's temple! We will take these people and Granakri down!"

Beaks pointed to the sky as the sound of over a dozen squawking, calling skarmorys suddenly surrounded them, as if all were fevered in a half-deafening chorus, with several taking flight to circle overhead. With bird shadows moving over the ground, it became surreal as Blaze joined in with several loud yips, and Grovyle with his own squawks while raising a clawed hand into the air. Even Lonny gave a quick smile before yelling, and Leo heard both his other self and Sally giving theirs. After a deep inhale, he finally added his roar to the ruckus. It felt primitive…and it felt good! With his heart pounding, he suddenly felt immensely confident they could really succeed!

As things died down moments later, Uononi appeared to take something from another skarmory before launching off the hillside and swooping down in front of him. Perching on the edge of the cliff, she bowed to deposit something black and round on the rocky ground by his feet.

"That is for you; you are meant to have it," the golden skarmory squawked. "According to legend, the Griseous orb acts as balance to the Lustrous and Adamant orbs. It is also supposed to help ward off the darkness somehow. Perhaps it may help you."

Leo again translated, noting the increased hope on everyone's faces. Even the female infernape looked…slightly more relieved from what was becoming her usual reserved…and frightened look.

"And you will ride _me_," Uononi continued with a gentle poke of her long metallic beak to his scraped up chest.

Turning to his partner, he saw him nod. Lonny looked slightly less sure.

"I go with you," she quickly proclaimed though.

"So do I!" Blaze announced with a whip of his tail and puffing of his mane. "Wait, can you carry everyone?"

"Of course I can!" the large bird replied proudly with nearly a huff.

Nearby, a skarmory was landing beside his other self and Sally, then another one for Ruby and Grovyle, and finally one for Kol. Akri, of course, didn't need to be flown.

For an instance, something looked wrong when Kol abruptly ran back to the last truck to reach into the back. Then a second later, Leo mentally suddenly chastised himself for forgetting what the Pokémon-human hadn't.

After running back, Kol held out Lonny's spear. "Leo mentioned this was important to you, and an extra weapon of any type can't hurt."

Lonny looked as surprised as anyone, but took it without hesitation. Before she could spit out a thank you though, Kol went back to his waiting skarmory, grabbing their pack.

It took a some managing before they were all mounted on their respective skarmorys in half-way comfortable fashions for both riders and birds. Fortunately, despite their metallic look, Uononi's feathers were actually soft. But with three on Uononi, Leo could see that he, Blaze and Lonny had the hardest time and because of his large rear fin, he had to sit behind them, leaning slightly forward lest he sit on it! He doubted Uononi would have liked that much either. As it was, he had to grip around Lonny's hips with his large hands, which he noted she didn't seem to mind, but she in turn had to wrap herself around Blaze's stomach. With Blaze's glance backward, he could see the nervous grin on his partner's face.

"Just hope we don't fall," Blaze said, the nervousness proving to be not just in his grin.

"Just before we got here, one of my scouts returned," Uononi said. "Those humans and their Pokémon were almost at the temple. They certainly are there by now!" With a loud squawk: "So we go now! Take flight and fly swift! And don't lose your passengers! Fly…fly…FLY!"

With another chorus of squawks that held no words other then bravado, all the skarmorys, both those with and without passengers, took to the air amid a flurry of flapping wings. From the ground, no doubt it would have been impressive!

After making sure he wasn't about to fall off, Leo looked at the black orb he gripped tightly in his three-fingered hand. Would it really help? Maybe it represented some of Giratina's power. That would be good if it did. But in whatever form it came, he wasn't going to pass up more help.


	22. Chapter 22: Temple, Part I

_I originally wanted to post this chapter as one very long chapter, but it was taking pretty much forever to edit, so I split it. This is the first part. You can read more notes about this chapter on my Profile page.  
_

* * *

**Chapter XXII: Temple, Part I**

Leo Hanson wrapped his arms around the golden skarmory's lower neck and its hard, yet pliable metallic feathers in a near-death grip. He hated heights. Even when they were building their house, he was glad the Pokémon did most of the high-up work. Yet…in watching the fast moving desert perhaps a hundred meters below and with the stiff, dry wind in his face, he felt a weird exhilaration… Sally's grip on him didn't feel as tight as his on the skarmory and darning a look back: "How you doing?"

"This is fun!" craning her neck in looking all around, her long, red hair flying behind her in the strong breeze of fast flight. "Well, as fun as it can be considering. How about you?"

"I like the ground," he replied, instantly whipping his head back around in imagining he was losing his grip. The skarmory squawked as his grip momentarily tightened. "Sorry!"

But he'd rather fly up here on its back for hours than do what lay ahead, which was something that increasingly terrified him the more he thought about it. He remembered quite vividly what it felt like getting hit by Granakri's Spacial Rend. And how the large, dark-toned charizard-like Pokémon brushed aside all of Grovyle's, Blaze's and his swampert counterpart's attacks like they were nothing, even with Lonny joining in as much as she could despite being (mostly) human.

Brave former swampert.

But they had Kol helping them now, as hard as it was accepting that turn of events. He had major doubts about trusting the human-Pokémon hybrid, despite what his counterpart claimed. There was also Akri. The Guardian of the island's portal room? How powerful was that Pokémon…and would he make any material difference if or when they had to battle Granakri again? The Pokémon had hid itself when Granakri showed up on the island apparently…

So, four Pokémon now plus Kol…five Pokémon if he included Ruby. Could she fight? Looking over and slightly behind, he located her and Grovyle on their own skarmory. The female infernape was behind Grovyle with his tail leafs spread around and pressed against her in the breeze. Her red and yellow mane was flying just as much as Sally's…as was her tail, and the wind was also doing a good job ruffling the thicker white hair of her calves, chest and shoulders. She also seemed rigid, staring straight ahead with what he guessed was a death-grip on poor Grovyle's stomach. She suddenly looked over and her grimace lessened, gradually becoming a weak smile.

He smiled back, but worried about her. She was still quite thin and he guessed weak; a few days of somewhat proper nutrition couldn't possibly be enough to make up all the weight she had lost. Being closely pursued for over week by Pokémon intent on taking you out of the world would make anyone lose a good chuck of body weight!

"We might have to protect her," Sally said from behind, seemingly reading his mind.

He nodded. In the other direction, he found Lonny riding with his swampert counterpart, Akri (who was hanging onto the swampert's head fins), and Blaze, the male infernape looking much like Ruby with his longer mane flying in the wind.

He felt less worried about Lonny. Her Protect already proved it would provide some protection against Granakri, and she was good with her spear, too. He just hoped she remembered she was still mostly human and not near as tough as most Pokémon.

Which then brought him to his counterpart. As beat-up as the swampert already was, the berries they fed him seemed to be having good effect, just as one would expect from a bunch of sitris berries. But no berry or medicine could heal wounds instantly, as evidenced by all the scrapes and bruises his counterpart still had on his chest. If he had to, he would do whatever he could to protect him, just like his counterpart did for him on Fore-nine island a year and a half before. Having thought the guy was dead twice already in just the last few days, he doubted he could take a third time!

Wow…had he really come that far in thinking the swampert as a different individual rather than just another version of himself?

A thought for another time. A more timely thought was after all this, assuming any of them survived, he hoped Arceus, whoever he/she really was, appreciated what they were doing!

Or…could…

His eyes went wider despite the strong wind. Could it have been Arceus that arraigned everything, from the map, to the shuttle, to the portal, to even what was happening now? If the little bit of what he heard about Arceus was true, being the creator of all Pokémon and basically the oldest, most legendary Pokémon of all, he could almost believe such a creature could easily have done such. The vision he and his counterpart had in the shuttle's cavern, the dragon-like shape on the hilltop that was shrouded in late evening's darkness... It didn't have wings, so it probably hadn't been Granakri at least.

Feeling a tap, he followed his wife's arm and finger. On the horizon…he swore there was an artificial shape between two large rocky hills…

Where they almost there already? The pit in his stomach started growing.

* * *

If it wasn't for the warm, buffeting wind of flight, Kol knew his shaking would be noticeable. If he only needed to face General Enpersen, he wouldn't be as worried. He had enough anger toward the commanding hybrid that he wasn't afraid to face him anymore. Which wasn't to say he could defeat the older hybrid and exact his revenge; the man very well could still be more powerful than him. Although he had used his powers while an Earth, and likely gained strength in addition to picking up a new attack, the General likely increased in power as well, perhaps to a greater degree. At least the Lieutenant was dead and the soldiers and their Pokémon were of little consequence; Leo and his friends could probably manage them. Never before did he have such a good chance in facing off against his old adversary!

But if Granakri was there or showed up too quickly…

The master Pokémon did create a new wrinkle to what he had once thought was fact. With the legendary and reviled Granakri having been in charge of his world for the last several hundred years, how many of Enpersen's actions were truly his own?

Narrowing his eyes on the growing white triangular shape ahead, he decided it didn't matter. Even if he had been ordered to do every atrocity he had done, Enpersen surely had some latitude as to how to go about them. And for what he had done, not just to most the people on his planet, but to his one and only love eight years ago, he was going to make the man pay dearly…one way or another!

* * *

Lonny couldn't help staring back at her Leo, just to make sure he hadn't fallen off or something otherwise bad happened to him, even though his large arms were wrapped firmly around her. In front, Blaze also seemed to have a firm grip on the skarmory, but because his long red and yellow mane was flying in the wind and directly into her face, she needed to use her spear-holding arm to keep it down. Which was harder than it seemed in the wind.

Fortunately the skarmory was large enough for all of them and she felt in no danger of falling off. Now that she was riding it, it really struck her just how large it was; easily the largest she'd ever seen!

But their ride was almost over and she desperately fought the fear growing inside her. If she were still a swampert, she was certain she would not have such fear. She resolved to control it anyway…somehow.

With a tightened grip on her spear, she glared ahead, swearing she also would not allow anything to happen to her Leo. She would die before she allowed harm to come to him again!

But before that happened, she wouldn't mind getting a second chance to do something to that blasted charizard-like Pokémon, even if it were merely a hard jab with the point of her human-made weapon…

* * *

Leo leaned to see past Lonny, but enjoyed her closeness. On the horizon between two large hills…was that a wide triangle-shaped…building? Arceus's temple? Then it occurred to him: it was the shape of what was depicted on the mural in the portal chamber on Akri's island! And the three colored circles, perhaps the three orbs…given that the Griseous orb matched the black one!

"Humans there!" Uononi squawked.

Trying to look past Lonny, Blaze, and Uononi's wings, he strained against the wind blasting his face, fins and gills to see. Obviously, Uononi's eyes were sharper than his.

"I see them," Blaze shouted. "The vehicles are in front!"

Uononi turned her head to the right, squawking orders for several of the skarmory flock to fly ahead with Extreme Speed and drive the humans away. Every golden skarmory not carrying someone burst ahead, a dozen all told.

"This is it, Leo! Perhaps this is the reason we were on that map!"

How could he possibly argue with his infernape partner? It very much seemed as if everything up to then was leading them to the temple, as if Arceus or whoever knew they would come to help. And from so long ago, too… Surely Dialga had a hand in it? If only the dragon was with them…they could certainly use him. Clutching the Griseous orb a bit harder, he hoped more than ever it would provide whatever protection Uononi thought it could.

As the temple rapidly grew in size as they neared, multiple streaks erupted from the ground and into the sky. He both saw and felt Lonny cringe in front as the distant sound of gunfire reported, the flashes of firearms being joined by obvious Pokémon attacks: water and fire streams, lightning bolts, black balls of energy, a hyperbeam… Shortly after, skarmorys started diving down upon those on the ground with shrill screams, wings glowing.

On the three remaining skarmorys carrying everyone else, he saw the visible tightening of grips and grim faces despite the turbulent wind of flight. From the battle raging up ahead, the grim reality about what they faced starting hitting. Given the human's weapons and their Pokémon fighting beside them, any of them could be seriously hurt or worse before they even had a chance to fight the General or Granakri.

The skarmory carrying Grovyle and Ruby unexpectedly swerved as some shots came their way, Grovyle hissing loudly in hanging on with Ruby apparently gripping him ever tighter. Close enough to be hit by long-range attacks, they were also close enough to make out detail on the temple, like the many levels to the white building, and arches running the length of every level as if framing windows. The fact it was enormous was also becoming increasing apparent, if not already for how small the humans seemed in relation to it! Although not as tall as Temporal Tower, it was far, far wider at the base. For a moment, he became lost in how impressive it looked…a gleaming white pyramid under the blinding desert sun…

Ahead, several skarmorys seemed to slam into one of the hills…before coming away with wings flapping furiously in carrying something. Screaming with what must have been ear-piercing volume up close, they dived again toward the humans and dropped their payloads, sending humans and Pokémon scrambling on the ground. One rock hit a truck, smashing part of it as more rocks fell around. Gunfire and countering Pokémon attacks seemed to wither under the barrage…

A Pokémon got absorbed into a Pokéball by one of the humans...its owner then lifting a large gun…

"Hang on!" Uononi yelled as she suddenly angled up sharply and they started climbing high into the air.

His heart jumped with feeling both Lonny and Blaze flinching when the bird Pokémon let out a horrendously loud screech, followed by the three skarmorys behind them. Then, the ground almost directly underneath came into view as the bird pointed its metallic beak down at a very unsafe-looking angle, and started flapping her wings hard. They were diving and gaining speed rapidly…straight into the center of the human's defenses!

He wanted to ask what the heck bird thought it was doing as Akri tightened his grip on his fins, but before he could get any words out, they were already halfway there with Uononi's wings glowing brightly!

Screams erupted up from the ground as humans and Pokémon scattered, one retreating into the temple, another literally diving out of the way. In what seemed far too close to the ground, Uononi pulled up sharply, her wings straining as they felt to brake in mid-air….to land with a jolt on top of the stone steps leading up to what seemed the main entrance, a massive set of two arched wooden doors.

"I said we get you here!" Uononi squawked with obvious pride as the other three skarmorys landed as break-neck as she had…and their passengers looking just as wide-eyed as he surely was! In fact, the female infernape was soon clutching her stomach and mouth…

Feeling Akri release his head fins, he climbed off, quickly finding himself somewhat unsteady. Lonny and Blaze didn't look much better.

"He he, we get here fast!" Akri replied cheerfully before floating ahead toward the doors. A stream of leafs ripped in front of him, freezing him as they struck the heavy wood of the doors to disintegrate. Following the attack's trail lead to a torterra of odd colors, and a nearby soldier giving another attack order. From above, a skarmory squawked and twisted in mid-air to started swooping down to attack; the human turned to aim a previously hidden gun as the bird's shadow fell over him.

"You better hurry!" Uononi urged. "Hurry and help Arceus!" She was springing off the top step to streak down before her last word died, using Extreme Speed. The bird and human went immediately tumbling along the ground, and the three remaining skarmorys took off in support as soon as everyone was off their backs.

Scarcely a moment later, a spray of bullets hit a nearby column with small clouds of dust, proving the handful of humans outside were still not fully dealt with, even as another shower of rocks were thrown downward.

"We can handle them, go!" a different skarmory shouted in passing before its wings began glowing.

"Let's go!" Lonny shouted, running past the still frozen in mid-air Akri and toward the wide crack between the partly open doors, spear leading her charge.

Leo yelled after her, but she disappeared inside anyway. He was certain at least one soldier had run inside, presumably with his gun! Charging after her on all fours, he squeezed inside to find her stopped several paces inside. No humans were in sight, but what was…

Blaze slid to a stop beside him on the highly polished, but dust-covered floor. "Leo, don't just go running into…"

He heard his partner fall silent as everyone else followed through behind them. Several gasps came out, including his. The inside was…

"Elegant," Sally said after a moment. "Some…lobby!"

Which quite accurately summed it all up! The room that greeted them…was massive. White pillars, seemingly marble, lined the walls everywhere, stretching up to a high white ceiling and all crowned with gold. Near the ceiling, arched windows ran along the outside wall just behind them, letting in a large amount of light. Along with a floor of slightly darker marble and white staircases beyond the pillars on either side leading up to the next level, it made for one impressive sight!

Yet it also held the scent of something unused for a very long time, a certain mustiness…along with that of multiple Pokémon; some scents fresh, others fading. Certain some of the recent ones were those belonging to the soldiers, but… "Several Pokémon might be living here," Leo alerted quietly.

Blaze visibly sniffed the air in response.

"That symbol again," Grovyle said, hopping out in front to point at the floor just in front of Lonny, who was still staring upward at everything, open mouthed. Starting just below her was a giant, gold inlaid sun-like symbol, which despite the dust on everything, almost glowed in the ambient light.

"Guess we know for certain now who that represents," Leo heard his human self quip.

"Arceus's symbol," Akri added, sounding as if one informing.

But there was more than just that symbol that caught his eye about the floor, and Grovyle pointed out the large trail of footsteps in the dust leading to the right-hand staircase. Further away, a multitude of other variously shaped footsteps told of other creatures that had traversed the large floor at one time or another, proving his previous statement.

"Guess we need to start being careful, ha ha?" Blaze said, baring his teeth slightly with his mane puffing slightly.

After moving to Lonny, Leo wrapped a hand around her arm. "Please don't go charging ahead like that. What if a human was waiting here, ready to shoot you?"

"I would've used protect, remember?" she snipped, swinging her spear toward the staircase.

"You wouldn't have had time," Leo returned. Not angrily, but very much worried. "You're worried about me getting hurt, but don't you realize I'm worrying about you just as much?"

The sound of yells and screams outside followed a bright flash, followed in turn by sounds of something crashing, like a vehicle hitting another.

"Well, I doubt we have much time for looking," Kol said as he moved purposefully past everyone for the stairs.

* * *

Leo Hanson glanced back through the doors to see flames erupt from one of the trucks as Kol walked by him. "Right," he agreed, placing a hand on his wife's back before following the hybrid. There was no argument from anyone. Grovyle, Blaze, Lonny and his swampert counterpart moved to take the lead, Akri floating just above. With Sally beside him, he looked behind them to make sure Ruby was alright.

She was following, but was paying more attention to the sounds of battle coming through the doors from outside then to the steps in front of her. Reaching, he saved her from falling when her foot hit the first stair. "Careful."

Grabbing his arm, she smiled after a quick grimace and a flick of her tail upward. "Infern." She didn't seem to want to let go right away.

The stairs were considerable, going up perhaps three normal stories but only reaching the very next level of the enormous building, and led directly into a far smaller room than the "lobby". It was more featured, however. The walls appeared as large slabs of marble with the joints between each quite discernable, yet it was far from a flaw as they seem to serve as frames around large gold inlaid designs in each slab…simple designs that were obviously of different Pokémon.

"Bulbasaur, ivysaur, venusaur, nidoran, nidorina, nidorino, nidoking, nidoqueen," Sally said, pointing to each on one wall as they walked past.

Blaze said something in Poké speech as the infernape moved closer to the other wall, likely pointing out the treeco, grovyle, sceptile, shinx, luxio and luxray depicted there.

"This is kind of cool," Leo remarked while keeping an eye on the exit at the other end of the room. As much as he wanted to stay and look, they did need to find the General…if it wasn't already too late. "Come on," urging as he took the lead just ahead of Kol, who even had paused to look, and walked out the arched doorway to find a turn to the left…and a floating bronzor!

The blue plate-like, steel-type Pokémon started glowing, and he knew enough not to stick around waiting for whatever it was about to do. With the Pokémon suddenly screaming something behind him as it shot toward him, he ducked back into the room, nearly colliding with his swampert counterpart, Blaze and Grovyle. Side-stepping and getting out of the archway, he looked back to find the bronzor right behind him!

Blaze's flame-like mane puffed as he released a flamethrower just as the bronzor appeared to flash. Whatever attack the steel and psychic type intended died as it hit the floor with a thud.

"That'll teach you to go ahead of everyone else," Sally chided, grabbing his arm. "You OK?"

He nodded. That _had_ been close.

"You should have made a spear for yourself too," Lonny said while trying to get a look around Blaze and Grovyle at the fallen Pokémon. "Never seen one of these Pokémon before."

Ruby joined him and Sally after a moment, while his counterpart, Blaze, Grovyle, and Akri took interest when the bronzor let out indecipherable Poké speech resembling deep hissing.

After some back and forth between the Pokémon, Kol started shaking his head. "Typical."

"What's typical?" Sally asked.

The hybrid scowled. "When Enpersen and his soldiers and Pokémon came through here, they didn't treat the inhabiting Pokémon nicely. Any attack was returned tenfold, even against Pokémon who didn't try and fight. They're angry, and they're now attacking anyone who comes through. Your…other form, is explaining what Enpersen is here to do, the coming danger of Granakri, and how we're here to try and prevent Arceus's summon."

Leo looked to Lonny, wondering if the hybrid was telling the truth.

Planting the end of her spear on the floor, the former swampert nodded. "Those damned humans, just attacking out of spite."

Narrowing her eyes, Sally almost growled. "Those people are just…"

She was exasperated, and Leo gave her shoulder a quick squeeze of support as the Pokémon continued conversing, waiting until his counterpart finally seemed to finish.

"This bronzor is going to help us," the swampert announced. "He will try and persuade other Pokémon join us in stopping the General and if need be, Granakri too."

The prospect of their odds improving suddenly made him smile, at least for a second, and give his wife a quick hug. "If we can find enough Pokémon, we might actually stand a good chance!" She returned his hug before he noticed Ruby beside them.

The female infernape leaned around him to stare at the bronzer with an expression of uncertainty while wrapping her tail around herself. "Karna ye ape sä rafa."

"Hey, our odds our improving, Ruby. One can never have too many friends, no matter what species." He was guessing what she was thinking, but figured he guessed right when she touched his shoulder and nodded firmly.

"Time's wasting," Kol said glumly while moving around everyone to lead the way into the hall.

"Always cheerful," Sally whispered as the Pokémon started following the hybrid.

Leo sighed and started to follow everyone else, yet the swampert lagged for a few seconds in front of him. "If we need to fight on the way there, you better take this so my hands are free."

He stared at the Griseous orb for a second before taking the inky black orb from the large hand of his counterpart. Unsure what to do with it as the swampert turned to follow behind Blaze, he decided to put it somewhere safer than his hand and had Sally put it in the pack he'd been "volunteered" to strap on.

"Hope we don't need it in a hurry," she quipped, giving the pack a tug as the zipper closed.

Back in the hall, the gold inlaid outlines of Pokémon continued, again one on every large marble block, stretching as far as the hall went. Several other halls branched off here and there as they went, but the mass of footsteps in the semi-dusty floor made clear where the General and his soldiers were going. Most places, anyway. At one intersection, the passage of many Pokémon seemed to have keep the floor relatively dust-free, leaving no clue as to which of the three ways was the correct path…

He jumped and whipped around at the loud shriek.

Her mane slightly puffed, Ruby was just standing up as a spinarak scampered up the wall and away. With a snort, the infernape turned around, obviously not expecting everyone to be staring at her. She grinned slightly, teeth barely showing. "Rena fer ape nar ra?"

Blaze replied in the same Poké speech.

"What happened?" Leo wondered aloud.

"She was surprised by that Pokemon coming up behind her, so she punched it," Lonny replied. "With her fist."

Ruby held up her hand still balled into a fist, grin doubling. Then with a whip of her tail and a raising of her short infernape muzzle: "Infra ne rafa he he."

He wanted a translation that didn't seem to be coming, but got the general idea from her sudden demeanor. She was tired of being scared…and struck back. Looking to his wife, he could see her flash a smile in perhaps coming to the same conclusion.

So, his question of whether she would or could fight had just been answered. Fortunately for the affirmative.

One more Pokemon who could help.

* * *

"Enemies! Go away!"

The rhydon was colored oddly, having almost beige colored skin and a nearly black horn, but it was a rhydon nonetheless…and came out attacking from a side passage! Leo ducked its well-muscled, swinging arm, feeling a brush against his top fins before turning his head and giving the ground and rock-type a Water Pulse. The rhydon stumbled into the marble wall before rising several feet into the air, legs and large tail kicking. Akri's work.

"You…come to destroy!" the rhydon roared. "Like the others!"

"No we didn't!" Blaze shouted, mane puffing again. "Those others, were they a bunch of humans, led by one with pale, almost white skin and hair?"

The rhydon slowed its struggling, looking down at them with now dying rage. "Humans…I think." With a brief look to the other Leo and Sally, "Thought they were myth."

"We here to try and stop them," Grovyle continued, folding his arms and taking a non-hostile stance beside the floating rhydon…at a still out-of-reach distance.

Leo nodded. "Those humans are here to summon Arceus for some bad purpose. And if he isn't here already, an unbelievably powerful Pokemon will be arriving soon with the Lustrous and Adamant orbs so they can do the summoning." With that, the rhydon ceased all struggling, the white of its eyes enlarging and confirming it knew about the orbs, just like the other Pokemon they'd already encountered in the temple. After giving a brief look to his human self, "We have the third orb…but need to get at least one of the other two away from that one Pokemon so they can't summon Arceus. We need your help for that."

Seemingly by way of proof, Sally unzipped part of his pack his human self was carrying to pull out the black orb for a few seconds before re-securing it inside.

It was basically the same speech they gave the other close to one-dozen Pokemon who had decided to follow and help. The rhydon turned its head in finally noticing them as several began giving their own encouragement to join. The most fervent was a mightyena to whom the General had apparently punished seriously for attacking; poor thing had a slight limp as a result.

"That are very mean!" it growled.

"They used their machine-things on me, nearly killed me!" a dark-brown bibarel added, pointing to a spot on its brown-haired stomach where it must of taken some kind of club hit; surely a bullet would have left a hole!

"What did they do to _you?_" Ruby asked, concern sounding genuine as the female infernape came forward slightly, though still stuck behind Lonny.

The rhydon didn't reply, but did move to rub its side…where there seemed to be a small spot of blood on its thick hide. After looking to each of the humans and giving curious looking glances to Kol and Lonny, it lowered its eyelids. "I will help."

"He's joining us," Leo told his other self and Sally.

A slight smile crept across Lonny's light blue face, "Maybe we might pull this off, with this much help."

"It certainly won't hurt," Kol replied.

Akri seemed to breathe easier after he let the Pokemon down, the rhydon mirroring that look.

"Now, just need to figure out where they went," Blaze said, turning his head to each of the three possible ways to could go at the four-way intersection.

"That way," the rhydon growled with a point of a claw down the way it had come and immediately started leading. After a short while, the dust became thick enough over the marble floor to see tracks again…and it was apparent they were going a way that the General hadn't.

"Sure this is where they went?" Sally asked, obviously noticing the same.

"This shortest way to top," the rhydon replied. "The bad ones are not familiar with here."

"Ugh, this place _is_ a maze," Blaze quipped, craning his neck in looking down yet another side passage they were just passing, one which sported signs of considerable recent traffic.

"Good to have a guide finally," Leo replied. The other Pokemon they'd befriended had already proven to not be familiar with the way; apparently only a few were powerful enough to reach the higher floors. Obviously their rhydon guide was, which boded well for them!

Being led also gave him more opportunity to take in the inlaid patterns of various Pokemon species that continued in the walls. A good share he and Blaze still recognized, but there were growing numbers he couldn't readily identify. His infernape partner and even Lonny and his human self remarked about a few of the stranger ones, although Grovyle remained silent.

Alright, so there were far more important things to focus on.

For Blaze though, one important thing seemed to be sticking as close as possible to him, to the point where he could feel his partner's hair brushing against him occasionally. Not that he didn't feel the same way. Considering how rushed the reunion with everyone was, he was looking forward to spending some "proper" catching-up time with them. Under the circumstances, sticking close and making sure no one got hurt was the best he could do. If they ending up getting out of this alive, he swore he was never going to let Blaze out of his sight. Excepting for a few certain activities, of course!

"Just how many floors are in this place?" Blaze asked as they came to yet another staircase.

"Lot's" the rhydon huffed as it marched up, one heavy footfall at a time on the steps, not noticing the crobat that was streaking down from the next floor. Yet a few moments later, it also ended up joining them like the other Pokemon.

Even Kol wore a bemused smile for a moment on his otherwise persistently worried face at this latest addition. Indeed, even if the General had a dozen half-way powerful Pokemon with him, they could probably match against them fairly well at this point! And with Kol to counter General Enpersen, it was just the human's weapons that was the worrying thing now. Which was a major improvement over the situation that morning!

A muffled crack, reflected by an untold number of walls, stopped everyone.

"Gunshot," Sally mumbled from just behind.

"Bastards," his human self replied. "Didn't sound like it was all that far away, either."

The rhydon growled before continuing in the lead. "They…must be forced out. Such creatures do not belong here. They not Pokemon…they are not found on any of the walls."

"You mean humans?" Leo asked hesitantly, hoping his other self and Sally weren't included in that.

The Pokemon returned a brief look, then to his human self and Sally on reaching the first landing before the stairs made a turn. "Humans…are mythical. They made this temple…but do not belong as said by Arceus long ago." Then on giving only a visible sigh: "It was also said long ago that humans would one day return. We were to help those who came to help us."

"Sounds like we were expected once again," Grovyle commented, followed by a hiss as another muffled crack echoed.

* * *

Leo Hanson heard human speech as the rhydon slowed them long before they came to the open archway on the right. His swampert counterpart signaled to keep silent with large finger to mouth as various soft Pokemon sounds and three distinct human voices came from the archway, including the General's deep, yet soft voice. Then his heart started pounding far faster than just the climb up a couple dozen long staircases would have accounted for. "Is there any way around?" whispering as quietly as he could but still be heard by his counterpart or Blaze.

After a few quiet words between the infernape and the rhydon, his counterpart shook his head.

Beside him, his wife's former bravado had dissipated. Behind her, Ruby also looked fearful again and behind all of them, the dozen of various Pokemon who had joined them seemed to be steeling themselves with grimaces, bared teeth and fixed stares. Several were exchanging hushed Poke speech while Akri floated over everyone to halt just before the archway. Demonstrating great care, the small Pokemon rose to the high ceiling and peered almost sideways around the opening for several seconds before returning.

"Aka fan a rika…"

Most the Pokémon nodded, Lonny giving a hushed translation as she gripped her spear tightly: "Three humans, and that General hybrid. Also eight Pokemon, including a croconaw…"

"Do they have any Pokéballs?" Sally whispered.

Akri cocked his head before Grovyle seemed to explain something to him in Poké speech, gesturing his claws to indicate something small and round. After Akri replied: "A few was all he noticed," Lonny translated again.

"So maybe twelve Pokémon total?"

"Doesn't matter," the former swampert replied. "We have to get past them. And I'm going to pay a certain human back for what he said about me if he's there."

Noticing Blaze's red and yellow mane puffing, Leo quickly laid a hand on the infernape's shoulder hoping to calm him a little, at least until they got into the room. The fire-type said a few words, which the swampert translated this time: "Blaze wants to return a certain favor to a poliwhirl too. Wait, what happened, Blaze?"

"Make sure you leave Enpersen to me," Kol said in joining the greatly hushed conversation. "I'm the only one who has a chance against him."

"We were able to take you down," Leo reminded. Left unsaid was how much it had cost!

"I had two men and a couple Pokemon with me," the hybrid retorted. "You're going to have all your hands full even without the General."

Which was a very good point he conceded, and he wondered just how much of a help he could actually be to their Pokemon. Lonny was right: he should have made more than one spear!

"Then let's attack," Lonny said, her light-blue face suddenly a mask of determination.

Perhaps it was contagious; he felt his fear subside and replaced with like determination…determination to not allow that Granakri Pokemon get what he was after. Determined to perhaps save several worlds. Yes, he wouldn't mind that…again. Having a lot more help didn't hurt either, thinking as he glanced back at the many Pokemon behind them!

Sally giving a nod, he moved with her behind everyone else. With little else they could do to prepare, there was no point to waiting, especially since Granakri could show up any second if he wasn't already there. Yet if there was just one prayer he could make, it was for none of them ending up dead; he had no illusions this was going to be easy and that sacrifices would likely be required against such power.

_Please just spare Sally…_

* * *

Blaze's red tail went stiff an instant before jerking his head back around the corner, bullets ripping through the space scarcely a half second later to explode against the opposite wall in a cloud of marble dust, deafening bangs echoing through the hall! Leo wanted to take instead, but his partner insisted on looking first. Alright, there was the issue of his fins and green gills protruding too much…

Several of the befriended Pokemon started backing up, a few expressing doubts.

"I take care of that!" Akri quickly said, sounding cheerful for whatever reason. Rising to the ceiling again, the Guardian floated upside-down to peer around the top of the arch.

Leo felt himself gasping out of fear for the Pokemon as he took a long look…then human yells erupted from the room. Several guns came literally flying out of the room at high speed, impacting the same wall as the bullets had a moment before, and all breaking in one way or another!

"He he he, they no weapons; can't use!" the Azelf-like Pokemon giggled, beaming a smile downward.

After taking another, much quicker look around the corner, Blaze faced everyone, mane puffing greatly. With pointed teeth showing in clear excitement: "We can charge them!"

"Then, let's go!" Leo said in half-whisper, getting nods of agreement from each of the befriended Pokemon. With a leap, he went around Blaze to the center of the archway and then together with his infernape partner, lead the charge into the long room on all fours! The briefest glance rearward confirmed everyone was indeed following: his human self, Sally, Lonny, Grovyle, Akri, all their befriended Pokemon, even Ruby and especially Kol. The sight heartened him and he felt euphoric! They could win this!

With the three soldiers at the other end of the room appearing dumbfounded and stunned, the General stood his ground behind the line of Pokemon by himself, anger visibly spreading across his pale face. "Attack! Hold this line!"

Leo readied himself, filling his mouth with water while Blaze seemed to sport small flames from his own. Ahead, the line of opposing Pokemon, a mixture of a croconaw, a breloom, two mightyenas, a blaziken, and three other species he hadn't seen before, seemingly released every attack they had at once!

Halfway to the other end, he slid sideways in avoiding at least two volleys of Shadow Balls and a multicolored beam of something, then shot his Water Pulse straight at the blaziken..and noticed immediately each of the three soldiers pulling out Pokéballs… It was all he could see before dodging another salvo of energy attacks, then after regaining solid footing witnessed five more Pokemon materializing…with the piercing screech of a staraptor telling of an additional one above…

With Blaze practically colliding into the breloom after closing the distance first to occupy the dangerous grass-type, Leo moved himself to the side as much as he could to avoid the blaziken's kick as he zeroed on it. It was an obvious distraction so the fire bird could jump toward Blaze; if it got too close, he wouldn't be able to use another water pulse without hitting his partner! Using all his leg strength, he launched himself as hard as he could to get between the two as multitude of various Pokemon attacks crisscrossed around them. While the breloom was covering its face with its short arms and backing up in the face of Blaze's flamethrower, the croconaw was just making it into his peripheral vision…scrambling toward Blaze… He instantly turned his one foot to change direction and run into the back of Blaze, knocking him flat onto the floor as a Watershot sailed just overhead, close enough between his head and rear fins as to feel the breeze of its passing…before hitting the blaziken!

Blaze turned his head to look up at him, but no words were necessary; his partner understood what just happened. Not that there was time for words; getting off him, he landed a closed fist to the side of the croconaw's thick head. Leaping up beside him, Blaze attempted to face off against the recovering blaziken before their befriended mightyena and bronzor attacked it. Knowing Blaze was then free to concentrate on the breloom, he focused his own efforts fully on the croconaw that was just throwing a glowing fist at his chest, mouth open for a secondary strike. There was no avoiding its powerful focus punch in such a short distance, though a strategically placed arm thrust intercepted its neck and prevented rows of sharp teeth from grabbing anything. As the fellow water-type landed on its back, he went to his knees, the hit against his already sore chest hurting plenty!

A brief flash from a very strong Thunderbolt lit up the room…and a staraptor shrieked. Somewhere, above all the noises of a raging battle, he thought he heard the Pokemon hit the floor somewhere. It had to of been Kol; there was no one else who could use electric attacks among their group!

Sparing the briefest of glances, Lonny was taking on one of the unfamiliar Pokemon, fighting off a kick attack with her spear. He wasn't too worried about her; she could use Protect if needed. Overhead, Akri was swooping down with the telltale sign of a developing physic attack across his face while his human self… Where…? Alright, he was behind their befriended rhydon as Sally came rushing into the room with a couple of the broken guns, swinging one of them like a club against a Pokemon blocking her way.

In a way, he was relieved they were fighting too; with the additional released Pokemon, they were now outnumbered and everyone needed to battle. Just so Kol could get the General before he decided to use his particular abilities! Presently at the rear of the room behind the three soldiers, the hybrid seemed to be directing his humans, who in turn were barking orders to their Pokemon.

A roar from the croconaw demanded his full attention again in time to almost move himself out of reach of its short swinging tail, the attached fin leaving a sting over his left-side gills. The water-type was obviously a strong Pokemon, apparently very well trained…

* * *

Leo Hanson tried directing the rhydon by spotting against the mightyena attacking it...before a red beam pierced the air above to materialize into a fearow! "Above you!"

The cream-colored rhydon reacted too late as the bird landed a glowing-wing attack against its head. It went down…with the mightyena charging in to take advantage!

"YAAAEEEE!" With a scream, Sally ran past him to swung what looked like one of the broken guns, nailing the charging hyena-like Pokemon with a heavy thud! The hit against its side sent the black and white dog to the floor before it started limping away a few seconds later. "Here!"

Somewhat stunned, he took the offered rifle barrel, immediately noticing its heft and hence its continued usefulness as a weapon in another sense.

"That's the heavy one!" she shouted over the roar of battle.

"Good thinking!" The chance to use it was immediate with the fearow deciding on a second swoop down. Together with Sally, they at least fended off the large bird with a few swings, forcing it to abort high above. Then its long beak opened and something like a shriek came out…only…it seemed directed at them…and it hurt!

Dropping the barrel, he could only cover his ears briefly before hugging his wife to protect her, then in another moment they were on ground under the sonic assault. Whatever attack it was, he never seen (or heard) the likes of it before, and it felt to go on painfully forever. Obviously it didn't, but by the time he realized it ended and rolled onto his back, the brown bird was practically on top of him, streaking in from above with glowing wings! A swinging barrel came into view as Sally swung and clearly hit one of the bird's wings. Whatever move the bird had planned for coming out of its dive didn't work, and with still outstretched wings, fell onto his legs with a screech.

That also hurt, even though its own legs took most of the impact in trying to break its fall. Which clearly worked well enough for it to rise up on those legs and straddle his, its long beak nearly touching his head!

Swinging that beak, it intercepted Sally's second swing and wrestled the barrel out of her hands before throwing it across the room. There was no time to find the one he dropped; balling his fist, he swung with all his strength at the surprisingly smelly bird's head. The Pokemon staggered sideways against the impact, small light-brown feathers falling from its head, but it was far from out. As its wings flapped furiously, he got a grip around its slender neck, threw a leg over its back, and with adrenaline pouring into his veins, forced it down onto its side. Sally joined in by grabbed one of its flailing legs and with her help, got it pinned on its back despite its thrashing.

There was someone above…

Sparing a fist to swing it upward to whatever was about to attack, he narrowly missed Akri. He started to say "Sorry", but the floating Pokemon lowered himself to stare into one of the fearow's eyes, his own eyes glowing. An instant later, the bird's neck went limp in his hands.

"Hypnosis?" Sally asked.

Akri grinned before shooting off toward another battle a couple meters away in the large room.

Winded and shaking, he watched his wife retrieve the barrel he'd dropped before hauling himself up unsteadily to check on the rhydon. It was just getting back up and not a moment too soon, with one of the unfamiliar Pokemon now heading at them; from its look, he guessed it a fighting type. The rhydon easily blocked its high-jump kick, giving him a few seconds to better survey the chaos going on around them. At the far end, the three soldiers were still commanding their Pokemon while the General merely watched…until having to duck an errant attack. Elsewhere, Lonny was tangling with yet another unfamiliar Pokemon, while Grovyle, Blaze and his swampert counterpart were battling their own trio. Akri continued floating above most everyone, currently assisting some of their befriended Pokemon, and Ruby…

Where was…?

Whipping around in brief panic, he found the female infernape racing around Kol to go almost diving for the other gun barrel against one of the walls. Grabbing it, she glared at a water-type looking Pokemon that had been pursuing with obvious attack intention. A quick swipe of the improvised metal club and her bared teeth appeared to convince it to not try the close-in attack it seemed to want…

OK, she was holding her own for the moment.

A white flash brought his attention to Kol, as the hybrid seemed to just finish off one of the opposing mightyenas. Nearby, a second mightyena just caused their befriended bronzor to faint to the floor with a thud after a shadow ball, then it came baring in as Kol tried to advance forward. At the same time some meters away, the previously knocked-down staraptor took off from the floor in a fury of wing beats to streak for the hybrid with glaring eyes.

Were the Pokemon purposely targeting Kol?

Amid the mass flurry of moving Pokemon bodies, it was hard to tell who had the upper hand, though everyone helping them was fully occupied. Exchanging a knowing look with Sally, he took the gun-barrel "club" from her. With a nearly black crobat focusing on them from up above, they weren't done battling. If they could manage to take out another Pokemon that would otherwise hurt one of their friends, so much the better!

* * *

Leo bulled his way through the croconaw's water shot to pound the Pokemon to the floor with a Focus Punch. Since water attacks did little to either of them, it was coming down to just raw strength, a category in which he was winning but also taking time. Even amid his concentration, he noted the blaziken had recovered and was just knocking out one of their befriended grass-type Pokemon. Instead of battling another water-type, he needed to deal with that raging fire-type! "Grovyle!"

Only feet away, Grovyle was in his own pitched fight with a newly released machamp, but with a quick twist and a side-step, closed to the croconaw to slice into it with the glowing wrist leaf that had probably been intended for his own adversary.

At last the croconaw went down and Leo wasted no time swinging around to hurry to the blaziken. In only a few footfalls, Blaze joined him as he glimpsed the breloom collapsing to the floor, the last of some flames clearing away a small cloud of power…

Despite being separated from his closest friend and partner for what felt like eternity, he felt their connection as strong as ever and without so much as a word or signal of any kind, knew exactly what to do as Blaze suddenly bounded away at an angle.

The humanoid fire bird looked prepared to deal yet another final blow to an aron before just starting to turn its head. It looked as tough as sharpedo's skin and as strong as a dragonite, but it had to be getting tired by now! He knew he was, but found his mouth filling with water as quickly as ever.

As expected of any fire-type, the blaziken attempted to dodge his pending attack from a couple meters away, eyes narrowing with seeming anger in lowering itself nearly to the ground. Raising one of its legs behind it, it looked preparing to counter with some fighting-type move. Its mistake when Blaze appeared from behind to deal a hammer blow to that leg!

Such an attack wasn't going to cause the strong bird to faint certainly, but as its attention was forced to the infernape, there was the opportunity for him to deal such a blow. Releasing the water he'd been holding in his mouth, he fired the Water Pulse downward at point-blank range directly at the blaziken's head.

With all the force a thin wall of water could have, it flattened all the orange feathers of the Pokémon's head, neck, shoulders and upper chest before the rest of the water hit the floor harmlessly in front of Blaze. With a weak squawk, the bird finished its journey to the floor, this time involuntary.

Yet the fire-type proved its toughness in bracing its arms and partly getting up almost immediately…with one of its clawed hands swinging for his abdomen! Unable to wait for even the normally quick-flowing water to fill his mouth, he intercepted the hand with his own larger one, finding it instantly more than he could handle! The blaziken's claws found their mark, though with most their momentum lost. At the same instant, Blaze leapt up in preparation for coming down on the fire bird's back, but with water then ready, he released a second, lower-power Water Pulse again at the bird's head…Blaze landing on its back a second later.

The bird hit the floor hard…and finally showed no signs of getting back up. But its claws had left their mark on his left side with several long and deep scratches. With the heat of battle, he hardly felt them, though he was sure he would later. Seeing his partner was OK if not winded by now, he looked where he last saw Lonny in time to watch her blocking a glowing fist from a weavile with her nearly invisible Protect shield, then strike back with a blow to the Pokémon's head with her spear.

"Should we help her?" Blaze asked between pants, sweat making his red face shiny.

He was about to answer she seemed to be holding her own, when the weavile suddenly seemed to focus elsewhere and go charging...

Half the room away, Grovyle appeared to be readying a final blow to the larger, four-armed machamp. With all six wrist leaf blades glowing, he braced a leg as if to charge, eyes sharply focused…

Before Leo could react or even shout a warning, the weavile streaked behind Grovyle with lightening speed, landing icy claws into the grass-type's back! He went to all fours in an instant, forcing his tired legs and arms with all the speed they had left. The weavile seemed to sense reinforcements and started running toward the side of the room, except Blaze leapt forward to intercept the dark icy-type, flames meeting claws...

Grovyle collapsed, gasping through his long snout and holding his back just above his tails where a ugly trail of blood and ice was left. He looked in serious pain as the machamp he'd been facing moved closer, two arms raised.

Leo wanted to check on his green friend, but the machamp needed to be fended off. After intercepting the glowing fists with his own, he forced a Water Pulse at the fighting-type's grey chest. It appeared to have effect as a grimace came across the Pokémon's face, but in swinging its third fist at him, proved it wasn't as close to defeat as he'd thought.

"Can't…put off…any longer…"

Unable to steal but a quick glance or two at Grovyle, he still more than heard his friend's moans, hissing, and groans amid his pained words. It made him angry; the weavile dealt his friend an injurious cheap shot from behind, and that anger fueled each punishing Focus Punch he gave the machamp, not even feeling the hits he took in return. Yet...the grass-type behind him somehow refused to faint. And in one glance before nailing the machamp in the head, he realized his green friend was glowing!

The sight raised his spirits...energizing him!

"GRAAAA!" Funneling maximum energy into fist and mouth, he ducked the machamp's high swing and swerved another coming down before hammering the fighting-type in the stomach from below, and even before pulling his fist away, hit it with his other while blasting it with a Water Pulse straight to its face. With a frozen breathless gasp, the gray humanoid Pokémon first collapsed to its knees, then face-first to the floor, eyes closed.

Swinging around, he finally had more than a half second to watch Grovyle. New leaves were sprouting from an elongating tail amid the white form…

Attacking a Pokemon while it was evolving was strictly forbidden on the Poké world and the same was true on Earth, from what he'd gathered, as if it were a universal rule. But a nuzleaf that was threading its way through the mayhem, between Blaze's continuing battle with the weavile and another with one of their befriended Pokemon and some striped horse-like Pokemon, appeared about to prove an exception. Moving to intercept the grass type, he hoped the disadvantage wasn't as great as it might. But the nuzleaf leapt over him with seemingly little effort, aiming its sights straight at Grovyle...

A flaming streak came in, colliding with and knocking it to the side at the last instant. Landing a bare meter beside Grovyle, Blaze captured the little grass-type in his arms and then holding the struggling Pokemon at arm's length, continued his red and yellow Flamethrower directly at it. In seconds the Pokemon fainted and Blaze let it fall to the floor.

Looking to where his partner had been, Leo found the weavile likewise no longer conscious. "Sometimes you still amaze me, Blaze!"

The infernape returned a tired-looking grin across his muzzle as he panted, his red and white hair matting from sweat.

But with nearly half of their befriended Pokemon having fainted themselves, he again split up with Blaze to try and handle other opposing Pokemon that needed dealing with. With a grim mental laugh, he did a quick count of all of them, finding the original eight had only been a third of the total number the General and his soldiers actually had! So, it had been a trap where they had hidden most of their Pokemon. But he also knew he was tougher than most of them. A lifetime of battling on two worlds had toughened him and Blaze considerably. Too bad the granbull that was doing it's best to knock him out didn't seem to recognize that. Of course, he was already feeling dead tired; this was his what, fifth battle now? And as the minutes seemed to drag on, realization was setting in that perhaps, he was at his limit...

The granbull grinned, long teeth seemingly posed for a quick strike. "You small for swampert. I take you out now!"

As tired as he was, his speed was dropping and he couldn't dodge any quick strike, particularly a Quick Attack, which judging from the weak glow the Pokemon was forming around itself, was an attack it had at its disposal. Bracing himself for the impact, he noticed a another streak from the corner of one eye as it came from a side wall, arcing toward him over several meters to collide...no, SLICE into the granbull! The bulldog Pokemon instantly collapsed before him with a small spray of blood, and following the continuing streak to where it stopped, saw another glowing Pokemon in the shape of a sceptile fading to its normal green color.

"Grovyle?"

The sceptile nodded. "Seems you needed some help," he replied.

"Blaze," Leo said at once, remembering his partner was as exhausted as he was.

"Already helped him," Grovyle replied, pointing a hand claw to where Blaze was standing over another fainted opponent, panting even more heavily with his long mane draping limp around and over his shoulders.

Leo returned Sceptile's grin before Blaze virtually staggered over, looking nearly devoid of strength.

"Grovyle, you know how to keep us on edge, ha ha," the infernape said wearily.

The freshly evolved grass-type ran one of his leaf blades through his claws, as if cleaning it. "Thanks for protecting me. And you can call me Sceptile now."

"You need a real name," Leo replied, wondering for a second who should have the honor. After a quick glance failed to reveal anyone else in dire need of immediate help (for once) although many battles were still raging, "You know, I think we're actually winning this!" Of course, he had to look to the three soldiers and especially the General, wondering if or when Kol was finally going to go after the man. Instead, he saw the soldiers being motioned back by Enpersen, a moment before the hybrid started spreading his fingers and positioning his hands…in a familiar way that was seared into his mind from a year and a half ago…

"Blaze, Sceptile, look out!"

* * *

The mightyena came charging in, pressing its attack with teeth bared and shadow ball forming. Gritting his own teeth, Kol barely had time to turn and face it after giving the damned staraptor a thunderbolt and knocking it out of the air for the third time. Shifting sideways and kicking hard, he felt his shoe connect with the mightyena's soft belly to send it crashing to the floor beside him, wheezing, and the shadow ball evaporating. Apparently on the verge of fainting, a weak physic attack was all it took to push it over the edge, despite the dog being a dark-type.

Finally, after constant battles with no less than four different Pokemon, he could take a better look around. To his relief, it seemed they were holding their own (and noted the grovyle seemed to have evolved), but in particular he needed to see what Enpersen was doing…

…and felt a cold shock travel down his spine! As the General glared at him over the distance filled with still fighting Pokemon, he felt the dimensional bubble just starting to form around most of the room!

_No you don't, bastard!_ Quickly channeling energy into his right hand, he swept it horizontally over his head. The white arc of the Spacial Rend ripped overhead and toward the General before seemingly hitting an invisible wall, spreading its spacial energy in all directions and colors in dissipating. Not before it had done its job though, as he felt additional relief at the bubble's collapse before it fully formed.

One of their befriended Pokémon just finished off its opponent nearby, and the obviously enraged donphan rolled like a boulder past a liepard in going after one of the soldiers. The man screamed on being crushed between the back wall and the Pokémon, and the other two humans rushed to help. It was a short-lived attempt, as yet another Pokémon broke the through the line as the General's Pokémon were finally being exhausted, although one soldier managed to released what he had to guess was their final one - held in reserve for an emergency. The abomasnow looked plenty powerful too, as it knocked both the other Pokémon to the side. Too bad for it there also were two infernapes in the room…though the one male looked at the end of his energy.

Still, now that there were no more Pokémon attacking him, he sharpened his focus on the General, feeling anger and thirst for revenge build. He half expected the older man to join the fight somehow, perhaps taking out the swampert, the male infernape, and the newly evolved sceptile at least…but instead the hybrid simply turned for the exit in the back, walked out and disappeared around the corner a short ways in. So he wasn't going to help his soldiers and Pokémon, then?

He wanted to think the man a coward, since just by himself the General could put up a very tough fight against all of them. But that thinking would have been wrong. No, his long-time adversary had something planned, and he had a damned good guess what it was.

Without any word, he ran for the opposite exit of the room, avoiding several passed-out Pokemon on the floor and dodging an attacking liepard, a back-kicking girafarig, the two remaining unhurt soldiers, and the raging abomasnow before making out and around the left-hand corner a few meters inside. A long set of narrow stairs presented themselves and after a good minute of climbing, an even larger room was waiting at the top. With a row of tall, white marble columns, each side also sported the usual gold-inlaid outlines of Pokemon, but these were the largest yet, and these particular ones…Dialga, Palkia, and who he presumed was Giratina, along with several others he couldn't identify. At the other end of the room two high and arching, light-wood doors stood, with golden decoration all about them, including the symbol they have come to know as Arceus's symbol. And between him and those doors stood the Enpersen, presenting himself as relaxed as his usual straight posture allowed.

Almost what he had been expecting. With a measured sigh, he began crossing the long room at a unhurried pace, his footsteps against the shiny, and surprisingly clean, marble floor echoing throughout the chamber as he calmed his breath and heart rate, though focusing his anger. Finally, he was getting his chance!

"Kol," the General spoke first, speaking almost friendly like but with deadpan expression. "It seems my Lieutenant was right. He didn't trust you at all, but _I_ had some hope you were still under my control. It's a shame; I thought you had such potential under my direction. Even Granakri would've been proud with you. But, I suppose the special…hm, _conditioning_ was bound to wear off sometime. Pity the Lieutenant had to be right; he is such a pain in the backside sometimes. By the way, where is the young man?"

"Dead," Kol replied with as much uncaring as he could put into the word, but also with some satisfaction as he paused a third into the room.

"I thought I had felt it. But I didn't think you would actually have killed him; after all, he might have had some use as a prisoner…"

"I didn't kill him. The swampert did, though it was more of an accident." With a growing smile: "Guess our kind is as vulnerable as any other when it comes to falling off a cliff." Truly, the swampert got very lucky in that, as a regular Pokémon stood no chance at all by itself!

Narrowing his eyes, the General's face grew harsher. "I'll make you one offer. Submit to my will, and I will spare your…_friends_ are they?"

"Is that the offer you gave Heather?" Kol spat back, uttering for the first time in eight years the name which used to mean so much to him. "Or did you just kill her outright?"

With a pointing finger: "There you go: _that_ is your vulnerability!" Enpersen shouted with accusation. "You care too much about humans! And siding with such inferior creatures, just like Pokémon, is why you'll never accomplish anything. We are better than them; Granakri made us so! Just accept it, and _use_ it!"

Feeling rage take over, "Bastard! At least this time, I get to face you on equal terms!"

The General growled. "You think we're equal? I'm going to prove otherwise...and you _will_ come under my will again."

Kol seethed. Every horrible thing he witnessed the General do on his world came in a flash to him, and on seeing the man point his hand toward him, he mirrored the move to unleash his own thunderbolt, channeling a good amount of pent-up anger into it. The two blinding and jagged electrical paths collided evenly in the middle of the room, sending sparks and long threads of electricity everywhere. Then before the bolts even died, the General already started throwing a white arc from his other hand…and its brilliance that reflected off all the shiny surfaces indicated more power than he was expecting…


	23. Chapter 23: Temple, Part II

_Well, here we are third from the last chapter and close to the finale, and things are getting a little difficult for everyone... _

* * *

**Chapter XXIII: Temple, Part II**

Caught unprepared, Kol raced releasing his own Spacial Rend, the two arcs colliding immediately in front of him and creating a shock wave that literally blew him back. Landing, he slid across the smooth floor stop at the back wall near the stairs. At least on the other side of the room, the General braced himself to avoid the same.

Feeling mostly unhurt, he got back up while contemplating a dimensional bubble, but Enpersen would certainly sense it as much as he had sensed the General's. A Spacial Rend was too easy countered as to be pointless, as was apparently a Thunderbolt and any physic attack. A Roar of Time was too draining, so that left…

He really didn't have it down fully and it was a wonder he could wield it at all, but the Pokemon he'd run into once had been patient with him after he showed it kindness…even as he had started to lose his mind. It was a good time to put its teaching to use! Holding his hands several inches apart and close to his chest, he struggled to focus energy between them. Then after getting proper control, it flowed faster and when it was ready, he launched the ball of energy at Enpersen...fast enough for it to graze the dodging older man…

"_Aura Sphere?_" Enpersen exclaimed in obvious disbelief while examining his upper arm. "Well…you've picked up a new attack."

Kol wanted to yell something derogatory, but decided to just use another Thunderbolt since the man seemed off-balance by his unexpected attack. As he thought, the General was slow, but did get his own counter released in time. Still, several fingers of electricity snaked back to hit him and while still releasing the electricity, he took advantage by charging. Ducking to the floor as a second return bolt passed overhead, he started forming another Aura Sphere, this time determined to get close enough to ensure a solid hit!

With a quiet growl, Enpersen spun away briefly, then turned again with his arms wide, a dark arc emanating from them…

Just paces away, Kol couldn't avoid the wide, almost nebulous Dark Pulse. It washed over him like a cold, penetrating blast that seared every nerve he had! It was fortunate he was already on the floor, for it meant less distance to fall.

"Of course, _I_ learned something new as well since we last confronted each other," the General seemed to say with no small amount of gloating.

Seemed to, because Kol felt his senses dull…become unresponsive… Until he recovered, he realized he was vulnerable!

"I thought it wise to learn an attack to which we're weakest against," Enpersen continued, approaching with footfalls echoing through the chamber menacingly. "Although…given who were are, we really aren't particularly vulnerable to any nature, but the dark variety seems to have the most effect, if only by a slight amount."

Which wasn't news to him. Neither was the remembered fact of the man being fond of dragging out a situation in which he had the advantage. After only a few seconds, he at least felt some recovery, and tried releasing another thunderbolt…only to find himself at the receiving end of a second Dark Pulse!

"No you don't, Kol. In fact, although I'd like to make this last a while, I think my men need some help by now. And Granakri is almost here. I'm expected."

Kol found himself unable able to move again, worse than before. And with horror as well as anger, knew he was about to lose to this man for a second time as the General formed a ball of purplish energy above him.

The Roar of Time…Dialga's special attack. Most of their kind could naturally wield it, but it had such intensity and power, few of them could withstand being hit by very many. One hit in his current state would certainly knock him out. And if the General wanted, two would probably kill…

The purple light above Enpersen grew, casting a bright glow onto the walls, pillars, and the high ceiling. A slight, but menacing grin formed on the man's old, pale face. In another second…

So…the General, even by himself this time, was going to defeat him again!

That singular more than anything got him fight his body with sheer willpower, but could only move his arms a little in any controlled manner, the effects of the twin Dark Pulses affecting his body as if he were severely drunk! Yet perhaps it was all he needed… Moving energy to his hand, he swept it slightly, gritting his teeth in forcing the small white arc to erupt from it. In no more than a heartbeat, the opposite of the Roar of Time hit the growing purple ball, exploding it!

Closing his eyes against the blast, Kol felt himself pushed along the floor until hitting a wall, where the rush of air and energy finally expired. He laid still for a moment, wondering how bad he was hurt as his mouth formed a salty taste. Apparently not too seriously in realizing he could move again, though it was a struggle. Which didn't mean he wasn't hurting from the blast!

But Enpersen had been even closer to it…

Sitting up, he looked around the room. Almost opposite him against the other wall, the man was laying, appearing knocked out save for a twitch of a hand and rolling of his head.

His heart leapt; it was the perfect chance…if he could move fast enough!

Struggling to his feet, he moved across the room as the effects of the Dark Pulses continued fading to almost nothing. Which only left his fatigue, but no Pokemon-type energy was needed to do what he was going to do next! The General was fully awake by the time he reached him in recovering himself. He didn't care…it would just make this all the more satisfying!

Heaving up the older man and pinning him against the wall: "This is for all the people you've hurt!" He immediately landed his fist against the man's jaw, knocking his head back hard against the marble wall. Bringing his fist back for another strike, a strong grip suddenly held him back.

"You fool!" Enpersen shouted. "We're only agents of Granakri! We owe him our lives!" The General's hand on his arm was glowing…

He yanked his arm free before landing hit into the man's stomach. The General doubled over for a second…before returning the hit! With anger-fueled strength morphing to rage, Kol squared his shoulder and bulled into him from below, this time pounding him hard into the wall and forcing out a cry. Nothing was going to stop him from returning every "favor" the bastard had paid him over years, not even the Thunderbolt striking his legs…

* * *

Leo jumped over the yellow and purple cat Pokemon as it was fighting Blaze to connect his glowing fist down on it. The tough Pokemon collapsed at the same moment another unfamiliar Pokemon went down from Sceptile's impressive Leaf Storm attack. Then two battles remained, one with the abomasnow, and the other between their befriended rhydon and a battered mightyena which seemed close to begging for mercy.

Sceptile for a moment tried to fend off the abomasnow, but Blaze went staggering over to lend a weak flamethrower. Their green partner next tried slicing into the large ice-type as it was recovering.

Hurrying over as best he could on tired legs, Leo first gave the Pokemon a Water Pulse followed by a Focus Punch.

"Once more!" Sceptile yelled, laying into the abomasnow with a second slice from his leaf blades and sending the Pokemon to the marble floor for good.

"Finally," Blaze remarked, standing over the Pokémon's body.

"Almost," Leo returned between pants, focusing on the two also battered human soldiers who were trying to hold the doorway against the donphan…

Dropping from overhead, Akri floated in to give the humans an ice-cold stare…and a couple seconds later they too were down and unconscious, joining the third human who was already knocked out thanks to their befriended donphan.

Sceptile nodded with apparent approval as he looked back over the room littered with at least three dozen unconscious (or worse) Pokemon. "I think we won here."

"That'll…teach…them," Lonny panted as she stopped alongside the newly evolved grass-type to look over the now larger Pokemon. Giving his far larger and leafier tail to gentle tap with the end of her spear, "You look…much stronger, Grovyle."

"After all these years, you finally decided to evolve, Grovyle!" a male human voice called.

Leo watched his human self and Sally pick the rest of their way across the floor to join them, Ruby following. Both humans looked almost as sweaty as Blaze, and from the few glances he could spare at them, knew they fought as well as humans could. Then adding to what his human self said: "You were putting off evolving all this time?"

"Someone had to pick up the slack," Sceptile replied with the common human expression, adding quickly: "Just kidding."

"Funny you," Blaze replied, panting as he went to his knees and sat, head lowered.

Sceptile continued: "Actually it was the only way to overcome that injury. I wouldn't have been good to anyone dead."

With the scents of dozens of Pokemon heavy in the air, Leo fell silent with the others for a moment as they just looked each other over. Lonny's shirt and shorts were soaked as she breathed just as hard as Blaze, Ruby looked similarly gasping for breath, and his human self and Sally looked just plain beat with a several fresh scrapes. Akri was still floating above them, although he didn't look nearly as energetic as before. Their befriended Pokémon were either knocked out or were just falling to the floor in obvious exhaustion. In fact, Sceptile looked the best of any Pokemon in the room!

Despite fatigue, Lonny was soon in front of him and touching his fins in a manner of examination. "You aren't much hurt, are you?" Worry was apparent in her voice as her fingers soon found the scratches along his side that the blaziken dealt him, making him flinch slightly.

As he looked her over too: "Not badly; just exhausted like everyone else. You hurt? Did you take any hits?" The former swampert shook her head as Sally walked between him and Blaze.

"Where's Kol…and that General Enpersen?"

At once he remembered many moments before the Pokemon-human running past him and out the doorway the humans were trying to guard. Which was right after the Pokemon-human released a Spacial Rend that exploded weirdly…which must have stopped the dimensional bubble the General was trying to make. "He ran after the other Pokemon-human."

"We better get going," the other Leo said. "But you guys need some berries I think."

Leo could hardly agree more with his other self. "And I need water." Seriously, he hardly had enough left to spit! "How many sitrus are left?" Sally answered by quickly pulling three out of the pack his other self was still wearing, and had the yellowish fruits sliced and handed out in a mere moment. After some slices and all of the larger of the two canteens they had, he felt ready to go again, as did Blaze, Sceptile, Akri and their cream-colored rhydon friend. Of course berries and water weren't nearly as good as actual rest would've been, but they did help quite a bit!

"Arceus's chamber is at the top," the rhydon confirmed after downing the last sitrus slice with a chomp and gulp.

He translated and gave Lonny a pat on her shoulder before moving around her to the doorway. "Come on; Kol might need help." Certainly the man was battling the General, evidenced by sounds he heard once at the doorway.

Only Akri hovered in the way as he faced down the short hall, tails curving up at the ends. "The beast…will be here soon." Then with a yell: "No time to wait! We be ready!" With that, the small Azelf-like Pokemon quickly took off to disappear around the corner.

Leo jumped forward after the floating Pokemon. "Let's go!" However Akri knew that Granakri wasn't there yet, he was willing to believe it was true.

"So we're actually going to fight Granakri again," Lonny said as she half-ran behind him down the narrow hall and to the corner. "Don't you dare get killed, Leo!"

"I'll try not to," half teasing in trying to break up the seriousness. "But I swear I'm not going to let anyone here get hurt if I can do something about it." That might worry his mate, but it was something any of them would do for him. Rounding the corner, that worry suddenly became more immediate: at the top of a long flight of narrow steps perhaps equivalent to three human building floors, were flashes of light.

"So there is a battle going on, ha ha," Blaze said as they started climbing up. "Kol?"

"And the General probably…or more humans," Sceptile added from behind.

"Sure hope he's winning, because if we need to still deal with that General…"

Leo agreed with his human self as his heart pounded from going up the steps and from a growing trepidation of was to come. At the top, Akri was waiting, seemingly watching just over the last step but not giving any sign of anything seriously wrong. His legs felt like jelly by the time they joined the Guardian, and immediately saw what they all suspected: Kol and the General were battling…nearly fist-to-fist with occasional Pokemon-type attacks thrown in. Both were looking a little tired as well.

Feeling hard pushing from behind, he let everyone else into the large room in which he could only spare the briefest attention to the gold-inlaid designs of Pokemon in the walls, but immediately recognized both Dialga and Palkia.

"They…fight almost like humans," Ruby commented quietly.

"We better help," Sceptile said, taking a few steps further into the room as both Kol and the General glanced to them.

"Seal the chamber!" the General screamed toward the opposite end. Scarcely a second later, a heavy thud echoed through the room when a crack between two large wooden doors at that end closed.

"The summoning room!" Akri cried, pointing toward the doors.

Without words, Leo started leading them for the opposite end, but haltingly as the General looked to prepare an attack aimed at them.

Kol yelled and closed the short distance to slam the older hybrid against the wall, grabbing the man's arms to pin them to the hard marble. "Hurry! Get in there!"

The decision made for him, Leo broke into a run with Blaze, Sceptile and Lonny alongside as they charged the door. Though someone was missing…their rhydon friend wasn't following…or was even in the room.

"Hold…the…door!" the General got out before Kol slammed his head into the General's…which looked to hurt both of them.

No time to worry about the rhydon; they needed to hurry as became obvious Kol was buying them time! Yet if the Pokemon-human couldn't defeat his opposite…that would be a problem. At least reaching the large doors wasn't one. The fact the doors were locked or otherwise refused to open, was. Through the crack between them, he could see something joining the two halves…and hear at least two humans talking hurriedly on the other side.

Sceptile leaned above to look himself as Blaze did the same from below. "Stand back!" the grass-type commanded as the pair of blades attached to one of his wrists began glowing.

With a swipe, not only was the crack between the doors widened for a length, but light shining through proved the bar behind was also cut. With Sceptile and Blaze, he gave the doors a hard shove with his hands…

"They're holding them shut!" Blaze grunted, turning to put his back into it.

"Charge!" Lonny screamed, running to plant her shoulder into one of the doors. The two humans and Ruby did the same, and whatever resistance was holding the doors evaporated as both large, thick wooden halves started moving inward before they gave completely…to reveal three humans backing up fast…while leveling guns!

Before Leo could grab Blaze and dive in any direction, Sceptile leapt ahead to knock two of the guns away with some quick blade work and claw work, with the third human shooting high into the air…seemingly against his will!

"No more of that!" Akri yelled, eyes closed.

He was ready to breathe a sigh of relief when one of the humans started pulling out what looked like a much smaller gun…

…when a lightning bolt shot overhead.

Back out in the outer room, the General had broken away from Kol and was aiming a hand at them! Kol managed to hit him from behind with what looked like an Aura Sphere as the older Pokemon-human's hand was glowing…

A gunshot forced his head back around. Blaze grimaced while holding up the human's hand with his own purple appendage while the other two humans were punching him! Running, Leo grabbed one of the humans from behind in time with Sceptile wrapping an arm around the neck of the other. Together, they pulled the two humans from Blaze, but the two men put up a ferocious struggle! Lonny joined in, eventually getting her spear close to one man's neck before Akri put him out. Both his human self and Sally joined in Sceptile's fight with the other human, freeing him and Lonny to help with the third human, who seemed dead-fast determined to level his gun at someone as he kicked at Blaze in fighting over the weapon.

Blaze started letting out a small Flamethrower; the man pushed a hand to the infernape's face, forcing the attack to the side.

Wrapping his large three-fingered hand around the man's wrist, Leo squeezed. Hard. It was but a moment before the man let the weapon drop…where his human self then gained it. Quickly, the man collapsed as Akri performed his Hypnosis.

Sally sighed heavily, brushing her long, red hair back over her shoulder with trembling hands. "So…we did it,", staring down at the unconscious humans a moment. "And this is where Granakri is supposed to arrive? This room?"

Lonny shrugged, but translated a "Yes" from Akri as she scratched through her inch-long blonde hair. "He says this is the summoning room."

"Kol is still fighting," Blaze breathed, brushing his own disheveled mane back while looking back to the doors.

"He said he could handle it," Lonny replied.

"It looks evenly matched," Sceptile observed for a few seconds, before gazing upward…

Finally getting a chance to look around the chamber, it was obvious to Leo this was the very top of the massive temple. The room itself was large and perfectly square, with large beams coming in half-way up the four corners, forming a pyramidal ceiling that came to point over the exact center high above the floor. Almost everywhere, walls, floor and ceiling, were of the whitest stone or marble that he had ever seen! Late afternoon sunlight shone in through decorated windows that formed a row completely around the peak two-thirds up the ceiling, each depicting some kind of scene involving Pokémon…not unlike some church windows on Earth, but all with only bright, light colors. Another major feature of the room was a large, circular platform in the center of the room, perhaps a meter high and maybe seven in diameter. As an exception to the white marble, it seemed of light gray stone, and in it was carved the sun-like symbol inlaid with not just gold, but a silver border around all its lines. Finally, surrounding the platform were three human-high pedestals topped with small golden bowls.

He was about to comment with a "Wow," if not for the continuing battle outside, but found Blaze's mouth agape beside him as his partner seemed to admire the room with the same thought.

"Leo, this is amazing," Blaze voiced, turning himself around as he looked at all the windows, his long mane puffing.

Shouts and the sound of more exchanged attacks from outside proved that battle was indeed still pitched.

"Maybe I should go out there and help," Sceptile said, giving one of the unconscious humans a quick tap with a foot-claw.

"He out!" Akri said, sounding annoyed.

"For how long?" Ruby asked, looking down at one cautiously, her tail twitching from side to side before a small explosion ripped her attention to back outside the room.

"We better all go to see what we can do," Leo said after another few seconds. "If the General defeats Kol, we're in trouble. Remember how it was battling Kol?"

Blaze nodded, twitching his tail with exclamation. "I don't want to repeat that. But maybe we should save our strength for Granakri. We have to get at least one of the orbs from him is all?"

Again, he wondered how having the Griseous orb was supposed to help, but…

Sceptile growled, taking a few steps toward the partly open doors. "You should all stay here. I'm in the best shape, so only I will go out and…"

"HE HERE!" Akri screamed.

Scarcely a second later the room flooded with a blinding light!

Leo clamped his eyes tightly shut, even resorting to using his arm to shield them while hearing exclamation of surprise and hisses of discomfort from the others. As the light died and he started opening them, he knew what he would see but still his heart leapt into his throat, and his fins tingled as they sometime did before a really nasty battle. At the other end of the room, opposite side of the platform, stood the dark charizard-like Pokemon Granakri. And now being in much better light than in Akri's island, and much closer than the previous evening, the creature looked far more fearsome! This time, it was also wearing what liked like a large breast-plate, pitch black with a gold trim and design on it. _Armor?_

"Oh…my…" Sally gasped, backing up into him and Lonny. Not that his human self looked any braver moving closer to Sceptile, but he did grab Sally's and Ruby's shoulders to get them behind the grass-type and himself.

The large presumed dragon-type Pokemon looked through the open doors to the battle outside, as well as the three unconscious humans on the floor, seemingly calculating…

Leo waited nervously with his friends as the Pokémon's odd smell hit him, but remembered to at least look for the orbs.

With a sudden huff, Granakri's eyes appeared to almost flare red, and partially spreading his wings, he spoke in his now familiar deep, growly and angry-sounding voice: "What are you doing?"

The floor vibrated under Leo's blue feet with the Pokémon's near-roar! But even through that, he immediately spotted the two orbs, one deep blue, one off-white, hanging as pendant's from a rope around the dragon's neck!

But before any of them could answer, the large Pokemon continued: "Hmm, so you defeated my servants? Obviously with help…" With only a slight movement of his head at the end of a long neck, he made obvious he was referring to Kol. His spreading grin then partly exposed his many pointed teeth: "So you either want to witness what you must already guess I'm going to do, or die. I'm going to guess both."

"Come on," Lonny said quietly, although her head didn't turn from the dragon type with a certain wavering in her voice.

Leo noticed Sceptile give a single, slight nod and Blaze…he could feel his partner trembling beside him. Even Akri lowered himself behind him and the infernape.

"Must try," the Azelf-like Pokemon whispered…sounding as if he was speaking through gritted teeth.

The Guardian was right: they now had to try and get one of the orbs away from the powerful Pokemon, yet Leo felt himself just as paralyzed as the rest of them in facing the beast a good many meters away. The memory of their last battle was all-too fresh!

"Alright guys, you know what we have to do. _GO!_"

The unexpectedly firm command came from his human self and surprisingly, seemed to do the trick as he found himself moving with Blaze, Sceptile, Akri and even Lonny. With Sceptile and Lonny jumping up and charging across the platform, Leo ran with Blaze around it while Akri followed overhead. It sounded like a simple job: just grab one of the damned orbs! Then…

…? What the heck were they supposed to do with it? Take it and run like a hoard of tauroses were after them?

Or maybe destroy it?

First things first: they needed to get one!

Granakri at first expressed surprise on his narrow, charizard-like face, before becoming bemusement. Then one of his clawed hands glowed white…

Bounding ahead and closing the distance almost as fast as Sceptile, Blaze unleashed flames upon that hand while the grass-type sent a barrage of glowing arcs, resembling sharp leaves, from his wrists and straight at the creature's head before jumping to the side. At the same time, Akri shot high up and then down the other side of the presumed dragon-type as Lonny pressed inward with her spear aimed, yelling.

For his own part, Leo filled his mouth, preparing to give Granakri the most powerful Water Pulse of his life! After trying to kill his friends…and nearly succeeding with him, he was determined to give this creature a battle he wouldn't forget!

Blaze's flames struck home on Granakri's hand as did Sceptile's Leaf Storm on his head…to which the Pokémon didn't even flinch! An instant later, the charizard-like Pokemon was swinging his hand horizontally, releasing a brilliant white arc across the room.

Leo dived to the floor, nearly skidding on the polished marble in time with Blaze landing on his back, still releasing flames as his hair did make him slide. With Sceptile already jumping out of the way…

_Lonny!_

Despite his lover being nearly out of view on the platform above, he could just see the trailing edge of the Spacial Rend being interrupted by something around her. Protect. But he couldn't see behind him as the arc continued exploding its way outward…heading for his other self, Sally and Ruby! Looking afterward, he panicked briefly at their absence…until they popped up from behind the platform.

"You…_evil!_"

Swinging his head back around, he found Akri glowing before a Dark Pulse left his body to hit the back of Granakri's neck. It was a shock to see the Guardian using the attack, something the little Pokemon hadn't revealed he could use! If anything, he'd pegged him as a physic type! But it was heartening to witness the new attack, especially as Granakri reared his head up and growled, as if the attack actually had some effect! Leaping to his feet, he let out the waiting water, impacting the stomach of the dark charizard with maximum energy! If he could get the Pokemon to focus on him, Akri could swoop in for an orb!

Yet…Granakri didn't even acknowledge his hit as he swung about in a grab for Akri. Akri deftly dodged…only to meet a quickly released Thunderbolt from Granakri's other hand!

"Garrr!" Pressing his attack from the side, Sceptile leapt, wrist leaves glowing with blinding intensity, in a arc taking him close to the Pokémon's neck…

Even while continuing the Thunderbolt, Granakri finished his swing around in response to Akri's earlier attack while also using it to raise his massive tail near Sceptile. In the blink of an eye, the charizard-like Pokemon gave a twitch and smacked the grass-type aside!

Sceptile landed on his feet some distance away, clearly smarting.

Lonny went running past the grass-type, spear dead-aimed at the Pokémon's right leg…

Leo only saw all this on the run, though. Racing around the other side of the platform and Granakri, he hoped to catch Akri before the Guardian fell to the floor as Granakri's Thunderbolt died out. Making his fist glow, he hoped to also score a fast strike at the same time as Lonny's spear along the way. He connected as he raced by the Pokémon's sizable leg, but heard a scream from the other side…

The second twitch the creature made confirmed what he realized a half second later: Lonny was just kicked! Completing the race to catch Akri, he kept going around the platform in a wide circle in trying to get fully around the dark charizard before it noticed what he was doing. Aiding him during the few seconds needed to get around the Pokémon's tail tip, the warm light of flames told of Blaze attacking from on top the platform, having made it to front of the creature somehow.

Only…there was soon another set of flames…much brighter…hotter…and…

_No, Sceptile!_

The grass-type's scream echoed off the walls as it became agonizing to hear!

Whipping back around, the horrific scene of Granakri pinning Sceptile to the floor with a clawed hand and just unleashing his own massively powerful Flamethrower greeted him! The grass-type was being literally cooked alive, unable to escape as the flames spread nearly engulf the entire platform!

Blaze's mane puffed enormously as he moved toward the creature's mouth, but the dark charizard blocked him with a swipe from his other hand, forcing the infernape to jump back.

Skidding to a stop while still holding a singed but conscious Akri, Leo filled his mouth with water yet again and forced his legs beyond what they wanted to do. He couldn't see Blaze anymore, but knew his partner was doing everything he could to get Granakri to stop the attack as Sceptile continued screaming. He also heard Lonny's scream of a second charge, but with only a spear…

Still several footfalls away, he hurried the water out of his mouth to intercept Granakri's flames right above Sceptile. The flames finally stopped…but the flash of a lightning bolt followed… He instantly went down from the deceptively powerful bolt and convulsed for several seconds before it died, leaving a hugely painful burning sensation all over his skin and especially in all three fins! At least he managed to shield Akri, who was now floating back up. And Grovyle…Lonny was helping him quickly away from Granakri, partly dragging him, as Granakri looked to prepare a killing attack…

The creature's narrow muzzle suddenly jerked…and with the movement, his infernape partner became visible again, the glow in his fist dying as he landed on the platform. At least it was enough to postpone any further attacks on Sceptile…

…but…

He couldn't quite move yet, but Leo tried shouting to Blaze to get away immediately. The infernape he knew well though, and the fire-type did start moving back…not fast enough as Granakri viciously swung and slammed his arm into his white-haired chest! The sound of air leaving Blaze's lungs was clearly audible as he was knocked out of sight behind Granakri's bulk! Above, he heard Akri growl and finally able to move his head, looked up to find the Guardian with intense concentration on his face; Granakri at once whipped his head to face him with almost an expression of pain…

"NOT GOOD ENOUGH, stupid creature!" the Pokemon roared, and Akri had to shoot high up in an instant to avoid the blinding and deafening Thunderbolt that chased him, chips of marble exploding from the walls and ceiling in its wake! The Azelf-like Pokemon responded with another Dark Pulse, sending the arc straight down; Granakri raised an arm, seemingly breaking up the attack with little effort! Akri tried again from a different angle with the same futile result.

Hope…he felt it fading in him…turning to fear. Nowhere had he ever seen a Pokemon able to disrupt an attack like that! This Pokemon…its power and ability…was truly powerful. If the first encounter with it hadn't made that clear, it was crystal-clear now! In fact, even what Kol said it had done on his world with destroying cities, now seemed an understatement.

Still…there was no such thing as a Pokemon that couldn't be brought down. That he had to believe! There was also the matter of returning the favor just dealt to his friends!

Feeling his muscles finally regaining mobility, he heaved himself up in as much of a hurry as they allowed. With mouthful of water, he let loose a Water Pulse upward, nailing the muzzle of the dark charizard before running as fast as he could, feeling the breeze of the expected counterstrike as the Pokémon's clawed hand just grazed his rear fin! Retreating all the way to Lonny and Sceptile by the side wall, he fired another Water Pulse despite growing dehydration. Against this Pokemon, it was all or nothing!

Somehow, if they could just distract Granakri long enough for Akri to swoop in and grab one of those blasted orbs…

Although greatly scorched with broad swaths of his green skin darkened, Sceptile rose beside him and advanced a few steps. From the other side of the room, Blaze was limping over, holding his chest, but still looking able to fight a little. With no words needed, he let loose yet another water attack in time with Blaze's flames and Sceptile's Leaf Storm. Even while releasing the water, he watched Akri concentrate from near the peak of the ceiling, obviously using his physic ability in time with their attacks.

Granakri roared, turning his head away from the onslaught…

"Keep it up!" Sally yelled from near the base of the platform.

For himself, he rapid fired three Water Pulses, feeling nearly all his remaining water quickly draining. Both Blaze and Sceptile were panting, Blaze further drenched with sweat, after launching a barrage of their own attacks within a few heartbeats. They were all nearly exhausted!

_Come on, Akri, get one of the orbs!_ Leo thought urgently, fighting to prepare one last Water Pulse. But the Azelf-like Pokemon instead seemed intent on attacking the dark charizard, an angry look on its face… _Damn-it, Akri, go for one of the damned orbs! You have the best chance! _Of course, shouting the instruction would only alert Granakri as to what they were trying to do!

"Charge!' Lonny yelled, leaving them to rush forward as Blazes and Sceptile's attacks weakened.

The former swampert halfway to him, Granakri swiftly jumped onto the platform despite the flames and Leaf Storm and whatever Akri was attacking with. In another swift motion, they were all staring at a white arc erupting from a swinging arm…one so wide none of them could possibly avoid!

He felt the Spacial Rend at first slam, then knock him all the way into the wall. Rock exploded as he impacted the marble and bounced off, his rear fin taking the brunt of it. After falling to the floor half knocked-out, he became aware over the seconds of lot of overwhelming pain in that area, more so than the rest of his body with was already great. His fins could bend, but they had a limit, and the one for his rear fin was just well exceeded. That…and his entire body started feeling worse than even being hit by a massive thunderbolt.

Somewhere, Akri screamed in time with Lonny…

Moving only his eyes, he found Sceptile on floor a couple meters away…moving, but slowly in trying to pick himself up. To his left, he felt Blaze's haired form moving against his arm. "Blaze?"

"I'm…alive…I think," he mumbled slowly. "But…that..._hurt..._"

With little energy, Leo moved his head to have a better look at his partner. It was Blaze's head that was against his arm, his hair mated down with sweat, tail limp…and he was bleeding in several spots through his white upper body hair.

"Ha ha...I guess…there's a reason he defeated us the first time...huh?" the infernape continued, falling to a whisper as his yellow and blue eyes were closing.

"Blaze, don't go down…"

"I'll try…just need to rest…a little…so tired…"

"Try and stay awake," Sceptile said, exhaustion clear in his own voice. "We can't give up!"

A quick motion by Granakri demanded his attention as the charizard-like Pokemon roared. No…screamed! It swiped first its tail, then swung itself about, exposing a spear stuck in one leg before Lonny ran around its side, avoiding a strike by its clawed hand!

"How dare you hurt my mate!" the former swampert screamed at seemingly the top of her lungs.

Leo's heart leapt as she jumped back to dodge another claw swipe as its other hand started glowing! He wanted to yell look out, but the breath wasn't there! In slow motion, he watched the creature bring the glowing hand down while Lonny was focused on avoiding the other. The glowing claw connected…

…with her Protect!

"How's that, bastard!" Lonny yelled up, but obviously struggling under the strain.

"A human with a Pokemon ability…" Granakri said almost curiously, cocking his head. "How interesting. BUT PUNY!" With a widening gape of its mouth revealing all his sharp teeth, the Pokemon tensed and pushed down…

With horrified eyes, he watched Lonny's shield collapse within seconds...

She screeched as she was pinned to the floor of the platform by Granakri's large hand, then struggled when with a simple closing of his claws, Granakri picked her up. Her expression became pained, breathless, as the dark charizard appeared to close his claws upon her, tighter and tighter...

Dropping down, Akri released another dark arc, the attack hitting the creature's side…to seemingly no affect!

Sceptile...was only barely standing, while Ruby, still gripping the one gun barrel, looked too scared to move next to his human self and Sally. (What was with that other infernape? She hadn't battled at all against Granakri!)

Leo fought to move and succeeded bracing his arms to partly lift himself up…but even adrenaline could no longer keep him up after so many battles and taking the last potent attack. _Come on, body, just a little more_, he cried mentally. He had to save his mate!

* * *

Kol landed a fist against the General's face again. He heard the battle raging in the next room and had felt the overwhelming pressure of Granakri's arrival several moments before, but Enpersen was putting up as tough a fight as he expected if not more so! But with eight years worth of anger built up that he could finally release, he absolutely refused to lose to the man who had caused him and countless others so much grief! All he had to do was avoid getting hit by any more debilitating Dark Pulses!

After a moment of saving his energy and letting his long-time adversary use more of his, the time had to be right! With the older hybrid staggering backward under his last purely physical assault, he let the energy flow into his hand and charging forward, slammed it into the General's stomach in time with releasing his most powerful Spacial Rend. The man screamed as he flew backwards into the wall once again. After sliding down, he didn't move.

Finally.

Panting and clothes damp with sweat, he stared down at the old man, taking in the almost surreal scene. Eight years…that had been coming, and he felt...fulfilled...satisfied.

The sound of something like rock exploding followed a slight tremor in the floor, drawing his attention to the next room, where what sounded like the former swampert screaming in near rage. If he had to guess, things weren't going well.

Of course not! Given what he knew of Granakri...what he had felt, the Pokemon was much too powerful for any normal Pokemon to handle. Even too much for him in all likelihood.

Taking a step toward the doors, he felt the sudden grip of fear. To face Granakri, the Pokemon of the old legends...the destroyer of cities and armies... His heart pounded anew. From the side of the hall and through the half open doors, he could see only a small part of the next room, where there was the glimpse of a dark red tail whipping around as well as some unconscious soldiers on the floor…

Well, he'd already decided that if it was his time to die, than so be it. And facing Granakri was really half the reason Leo had sought him on Earth in the first place. Besides, since the General wasn't really the one behind everything bad on his world, he still hadn't completed his ultimate goal of freeing his world. But if successful, just the immediate goal of merely preventing Arceus's summon could at least help other worlds. All any of them had to do was grab one of the orbs, which he presumed Granakri had close to him. And destroy it, he surmised.

_ Time to see if this Pokemon is truly as powerful as I had been lead to believe._

Risking another moment to get himself calmed and regain a little strength, he moved for the doors.

* * *

Leo Hanson watched the horrific scene unfolding from behind the ledge of the raised platform, which brought him and Sally closer to the dark-toned charizard-like Pokemon than he wanted, but below the height of the platform was the only real shelter in the large room!

Ruby had only her brow-ridge and long pointed ears above its height as she watched with fearful expression. Sally huddled behind him, looking undecided on whether to go to Blaze, Sceptile and the swampert. But on the platform…

His breath caught as Granakri's arm swung down on Lonny…before stopping in an instant!

"Good Lonny!" Sally breathed behind him. "Keep using Protect!"

Yet in seconds, the Pokemon pushed down hard, the Protect shattered and Granakri had the light-blue former swampert in his claws…seemingly squeezing the life out of her!

A quick look to the side proved his counterpart, Blaze and Sceptile were in no shape to attack, and Akri seemed to be trying his best to help with a Dark Pulse, only he wasn't having any effect… (But why wasn't the floating Pokemon going for the orbs?)

He…he had to do..._something!_

With a sweating hand, he felt for the handgun the one soldier dropped. He wasn't fond of guns, not since he'd been shot at by Kol's thugs on Earth a year and a half before. Hell, he'd never even held, much less used one before! He knew the operation was simple though: just pull the trigger, and certainly the safety was already off. If there was ever a time…

After a quick glance at his mate and seeing a fearful face framed by her long, red hair, he took a breath and stood up before losing what was left of his bravery. Shakily, he aimed at the large Pokémon's head several meters away, heart pounding in his cheat. "Enough, Granakri!" Unfortunately his voice wasn't absent all hint of fear…

The charizard-like Pokemon raised his head, staring over Lonny at him with gleaming blue eyes that seemed to hold hate. As Lonny still struggled within his claws, he started chuckling before moving his free hand to reach and yank out the spear still embedded in his leg. Cracking the wooden shaft in two between his claws, he held it out, "Bullets won't do much better! I've defeated entire armies firing them!" Throwing the spear's remains toward him, he curled his lips upward. "I spared you on that mountain because I thought it would be fun to allow you to die there, slowly freezing." Gesturing to the unconscious soldiers, "I give you credit for being more resourceful then I thought, though. And perhaps you do have some interesting knowledge." Then with a roar: "But I don't need it!" Visibly, he squeezed tighter on Lonny…

"Bastard!" Lonny screeched.

Akri squealed something while flying toward her; a swipe of Granakri's free hand sent the small Pokemon to smack hard into floor some distance away.

With a trembling finger, Leo started pulling down on the trigger. What the hell else could he do?

"Let her go."

Instantly pausing on the trigger, Leo whipped his head around and for the first time in his life, felt genuinely glad to see Kol! If anyone could defeat this horrible Pokemon, it was that Pokemon-human hybrid! But how tired was he after battling the General?

Walking slowly from the large doorway but with no hint of fear, the hybrid stopped some distance before the platform, his pale eyes narrowing.

Granakri huffed, spreading his dark red wings briefly. "Ah, Kol. Have you come to watch my greatest moment?"

"I've been told you created my species."

The large Pokemon seemed to smile, if it was capable of such a thing. Without even a look, he watched the Pokemon half-toss Lonny to the side, as if throwing away a toy in which he lost interest.

The former swampert hit the edge of the platform on her side before falling to the main floor, and Leo heard her moan. At once he was undecided whether to go help or keep the gun aimed at Granakri! Fortunately his wife made the decision for him as she scrambled around the large circular platform, Ruby following a moment later. For his part, he made sure the gun was now aimed as well as he could manage in his still shaking hands.

"Humans can be quite clever," Granakri answered. "They created me, so I had them create you too to serve me. Oh…you don't look happy." Then with a hiss that looked to spray a little: "I suspect Enpersen's conditioning has finally failed, hasn't it…_traitor._" Then in three large, sudden steps, the Pokemon closed half the distance between him and Kol…the platform shaking with the creature's massive weight.

Of course, the distance was even closer to him, and Leo started backing up!

"Get away," Kol instructed calmly with a slight glance. "And you know what the Pokemon have to do."

He nodded, but instead hurried to his wife and Ruby a quarter-way around the platform, where Lonny was sitting up and holding her arm. Of course the Pokemon knew to go for one of the orbs! As a side note, he wondered if he shouldn't bring out the Griseous orb, since it was supposed to help them somehow…

"I don't think it's broken," Sally quickly whispered, helping to hold Lonny up.

"It hurts like it," the former swampert whispered in cradling her arm.

"I've done some bad things while I was under Enpersen's conditioning," he heard Kol continue to Granakri. "Now that I've regained my senses, I now know who's really been behind all the inhumanity on my world."

Raising his head above the platform, he saw Kol's hand glowing. Immediately he pushed Sally, Lonny and Ruby to the floor while maintaining his view. "Stay down," he whispered. Above, Granakri's mouth gaped and his wings slowly spread.

"_Inhumanity?_" the large Pokemon asked with distain. "They exist serve us_, just as they thought I should do for them!_" Swinging a clawed hand toward everyone else in the large room, the dark charizard raised his voice to near-roar: "These creatures..._everyone_ in this universe, will serve _me _instead,_ and I will balance things the way I see fit!_"

"You're summoning Arceus for that?" Kol returned. "Just to get revenge? How disappointing."

In more of a growl that happened to contain speech: "You are not the one to judge me, _servant_."

"I am not letting you summon Arceus," Kol replied in a voice of as one having supreme authority.

All Leo saw was Kol letting loose the white arc of a massive Spacial Rend before turning away and plastering himself on top of both Sally and Lonny, Ruby joining him in covering most of Lonny, her tail wrapping part of his arm. Lonny's hiss was short lived as the blast of energy that radiated from above the platform stung…although Ruby's weak smile endured as a second wave blasted overhead a half moment later.

* * *

"Stay down!" Sceptile hissed in flattening himself to the floor, the blast from the two colliding Spacial Rends radiating from near the center of the large room immediately after.

Leo stayed low with Blaze on the smooth, hard marble floor, but some of the energy still hit them…and it stung. His injured rear fin, the highest point of the three of them, got it worst and he felt close to crying!

"If only I could…help," Blaze mumbled. "Kol might need it…"

He was certain Blaze was close to fainting. Moving a little, he put himself partly over his dear friend in an effort to protect him. The infernape didn't object and he suspected Blaze didn't even have the strength for it! As Kol and Granakri exchanged more potent attacks, the Pokemon-human managing to hit the dark charizard with a thunderbolt while dodging Granakri's return shot, he watched his human self, Lonny, Sally and Ruby attempting to get away from the raised platform on their hands and knees. His own mate was still holding her arm…

Indeed the four of them were not a safe place, being practically underneath the battle! Not that anyplace in the room was much safer. Over each passing second, he kept hoping both that Granakri wouldn't notice or care and that no errant attack hit them.

"I'll go and protect them," Sceptile announced quietly in getting up, and staying very low to the floor, moved to meet them.

Leo wanted to go help too. He could also see Akri some distance and felt some duty to go see how the Azelf-like Pokemon, who'd helped him so much, was doing. Akri was also still their best chance for snatching one of the orbs. But he also had to protect Blaze. He also wasn't certain how close to passing out he was either. At least Akri got to his feet if not floating.

Sceptile got a few steps from the wall before there was additional movement…someone else coming into the room… "Our rhydon?" Leo exclaimed for Blaze's benefit. And then on noticing all the medium-sized green berries in its gray arms: "He has berries! Lots of them!" Of some unknown variety… He watched the rhydon's oddly-colored eyes widen considerably in staring at the enormous charizard-like Pokemon in the center of the room, before catching sight of him and Blaze and making a run toward them.

This didn't go unnoticed by Granakri, and even as Leo just registered the dark charizard's quick movement of its large arm, an electrical bolt erupted from it and struck their new friend!

Kol lashed back, forcing Granakri to block and taking attention off the rhydon…

Using his waning strength, Leo forced himself up to hobble on all fours to the fallen rhydon, who was already munching on one of the now scattered berries before he could stumble the entire way.

"Thought you needed more berries to help recover, if what you say about this Pokemon is true," the rhydon said. "He…looks _powerful!_" as a Flamethrower flowed past Kol to virtually explode against one of the walls.

"I told you so," Leo replied. Seeing as the rhydon was eating the berries, he popped one in his own mouth before scooping up all dozen of the apparently quite sweet berries and rushing back to Blaze. "Eat this quickly!" When his partner opened his mouth just a little in seemingly wanting to speak, he shoved one of the berries partly in instead.

The infernape gagged at first with the fruit being a little too large, but was soon chewing off pieces after some pats to his white-haired back. "Wow, this is sweet…ha ha," between bites.

Not just that, but whatever the berries were, he felt his strength returning and the pain in his rear fin lessening. "I think these are like sitris berries…but they also can heal a little!" By this time, his human self, Sally, Lonny, Ruby and Sceptile reached them and he wasted no time handing more berries out. Then it was time to get one to Akri, and halfway-there wondered if he was going to make it, seeing as Granakri just succeeded in hitting Kol with fire…

Pausing just an instant to watch, he felt a pang of fear; Kol wasn't looking very good with his clothes singed, and suddenly appeared on the verge of collapse. Worse, Granakri looked hardly winded as he leapt off the platform, following Kol's retreat to the wall near the large doors. Was Kol's own fear correct? Was this Pokemon so powerful that not even Kol could defeat it?

With the fast-acting drug(s) provided by the unfamiliar berries providing more and more energy and healing, he raced the remaining steps to Akri to give the still dazed Pokemon a piece of one. The little floating Pokemon still had a job to do, and even with their newfound energy thanks to the berries, it was looking like their time was almost up!

* * *

Kol knew he wasn't going to last. This Pokemon…this nightmare from his planet's past, its power was overwhelming even for him. And he was certain it was holding back, too! So…the stories were really true. Silly of him to think he had a chance to stop Granakri from getting something he'd been after for such a long time. As it was, even getting close to the orbs dangling from his neck seemed impossible! Seems there was a reason Akri hadn't gotten one yet…

He'd been a fool.

Barely in time, he ducked yet another Thunderbolt from the genetically altered charizard, but instead of attacking in return, backed up to the doors in saving his remaining strength. The couple hits he took from Granakri hurt like hell, and he was tempted to run out in retreat. Obviously the humans and the Pokemon wouldn't stand a chance if he left them…

Hell, they didn't stand a chance with him either!

Fear invading his heart anew, he backed to the very threshold of the doorway as Granakri stepped off the platform in following him, his tail sliding off as a wicked look came about his mouth and teeth, and his clawed hand now glowing with reddish light.

"There is no forgiveness for those who _try_ and betray me…"

The rhydon had come in moments before with berries, which the Pokemon were quickly eating; the fruits seemed to have a restorative quality… They had better recover quick, because they needed to get out of there if they were to live. Taking a quick glance behind, he seriously wondered if he could run across the large chamber before Granakri could hit him with something.

Very unlikely.

But…giving up before he had given everything he had…felt corrosive. This had been his chance to take out the very heart of what was wrong with his world! It was what he had been fighting for over so many years! And the chance to set his world right, to put a stop to all its oppression…

…and it was slipping away in step with Granakri's approach; his efforts made no difference at all!

Moving shadows through the stained-glass windows halfway up the slanted ceiling caught his attention. Three of the windows become almost completely shaded a half second before the glass shattered, shards of the former depictions raining down amid ear-shattering screeches. He froze in disbelief as Granakri's expression changed, from cruel anticipation to total surprise, in swinging about to meet the three large and powerful golden skarmorys streaking straight toward him, claws and beaks all open.

_Uononi!_

Hope rekindled…if only a little. In any case, he flowed energy into his hand for a renewed attack...


	24. Chapter 24: Last Chance

_Short chapter this time, and second to the last. BTW, thanks for reading this far!_

* * *

**Chapter XXIV: Last Chance**

Leo felt elation: Uononi was coming to their rescue for a second time that day!

Around and around Granakri the three skarmorys streaked, banking sharply, clawing and grazing the large charizard-like Pokemon with glowing wings!

And thanks to the rhydon delivering berries, if there was any time for him and the others to attack, this was it! Whispering over the screeches and growls of the battle between the skarmorys, Kol and Granakri: "Akri, if the rest of us attack, can you take one of those orbs?"

Akri floated up, giving a firm nod of his small head, tails curling up behind him. "That berry was good; I try!"

Looking back, in addition to his human self, Sally, Ruby and Lonny (relatively) safe at the wall, Blaze was again standing and looking a lot more alive along with Sceptile. In fact, their return looks conveyed a certain eagerness… With a nod, "Everyone attack!" Immediately he charged, leaping to the platform to gain a bit of height now that Granakri was off of it. The charizard-like Pokemon didn't even see his (basically last) Water Pulse coming, so distracted he was by the three skarmorys and Kol attacking from four different directions!

To one side, Blaze started letting loose a Flamethrower to heat up Granakri's foot quite nicely while Sceptile tore in with Leaf Storm before following his attack in to strike the same leg lower down with glowing wrist leafs. Even the rhydon joined in, charging ahead with his horn glowing!

Leo ducked the swinging tail as Granakri turned to face both Blaze and Sceptile, giving him an opening to follow it and use Focus Punch against the very same foot. In return, he heard a satisfying pain-infused yell of a charizard.

Sparing a few split-second looks, he watched the three skarmorys flying up to the very peak of the high pyramidal ceiling, then come diving down one after the other, both golden wings and beaks glowing in a silvery light. At the same time, Akri passed over his head, heading straight toward the blue orb hanging from Granakri's neck...

His heart pounded. They…actually…might…pull…this…off!

Faster than such a large Pokemon had a right to be, Granakri ducked and swerved greatly to the side, effectively dodging both Akri and all three skarmorys, who were going too fast in their dive to chase him that far.

Even while leaping back as Granakri nearly ran over him, he saw the Pokémon's mouth glowing red. The same instant he got a bad feeling, a massively bright beam erupted from the dark charizard's mouth, hitting two of the skarmorys in a small arc. Each large bird was pounded into the far wall by the potent Hyperbeam, the marble itself fracturing around them before parts exploded all the way through! It felt like an earthquake hit, such was the force! Both skarmorys promptly collapsed to the floor as the beam died seconds later. As both Blaze and Sceptile hesitated, his previous elation left him cold at the raw power in the attack! Both birds were clearly knocked out…perhaps far worse. Only Uononi escaped the hit...

"He used a hyper beam; he can't attack for a moment!"

Leo focused on Sceptile, then on Blaze, who was forming a grim, determined look on his white hair-framed red face. Even Akri started swooping in anew. "Alright, attack with everything we got while he's resting!" Starting to run and prep a Focus Punch, he realized this was their truly their best chance to get those blasted orbs!

"_Think again!_"

His heart leapt as the charizard-like Pokemon lifted his large foot, and before he could stop, the foot came down solidly on the polished floor with a distinctive boom. Energy instantly radiated from the spot as a simulated, energy-driven earthquake started shaking him to his very core. He could do nothing to avoid what felt like the most powerful Earthquake ever! Somehow through the vibrations, he caught a glimpse of both Blaze and Sceptile…succumbing.

At least by the one wall, Lonny seemed to be using Protect to shield both his human self, Sally and Ruby…but only got the glimpse falling to the still shaking floor himself. After what seemed an eternity, it was over, but he was down. At least Uononi and Akri were unaffected, and turning his head a little to watch, saw her screaming inbound…

Flames exploded from Granakri's mouth. Within seconds, the skarmory crashed to the floor nearby, her wings scorched and smoking, the smell of scorched bird quickly filling the area.

Akri, somehow, had worked himself close…to within a few feet of the blue orb…

"_No!_" Granakri screamed as he swiped...which the deft little Pokemon managed to avoid, but prevented him from getting in closer. Growling in clear fury, the dark charizard raised his arms into the air, "This annoyance ends NOW!" and slammed both clawed fists into the floor.

He didn't know what the attack was; he'd never seen much less experienced its like. It was almost like a Protect shield, only gassy, red colored and exploded outward. And when it hit…

He wondered what to call it as the "wall" slammed into him, sending him flying across the room. That game played by humans on Earth… Baseball. When a ball was hit solidly by the bat, the ball went flying, perhaps over the outfield fence. Halfway across the room, he felt like the poor ball. The pain only started setting in after he hit the wall hard, then it was near-agony. His rear fin felt..likely broken now. Along with several other things. Somehow, he stayed conscious, but really wished he hadn't. Through watery and pain-filled eyes, he spotted Blaze and Sceptile near the fallen skarmorys who took the earlier hit from the Hyperbeam. Sceptile was moving, barely, obviously also in serious pain, but Blaze wasn't moving, and over the many meters between them, he spotted blood trickling from his mouth.

Blaze…

There was no way he could stand. Ignoring Granakri's approach and the agony screaming from his waist down, he used his arms to start pulling himself toward his dearest friend…

* * *

Kol escaped most the Earthquake by ducking out the massive doorway and around the corner, effectively being in the next room. Even so, the powerful energy waves drained him some, adding to his already alarming fatigue. He was still alive and conscious though, thanks to the skarmorys and the rejuvenated swampert, infernape, sceptile, Akri and the rhydon, taking a lot of pressure off him. Yet now, the last skarmory hit the floor, sliding under the force of flames from Granakri's mouth. Then…

Seeing the translucent red wall exploding outward, he ducked back around the corner as an impressive force of energy exploded through the doorway, slamming the doors closed. After the attack died, he pushed one door open a crack to look and…Granakri looked to be preparing to finish everyone off, his clawed hands radiating the white energy of another Spacial Rend!

Swallowing, he sweated anew inside his already soaked clothes. It was either use his last resort or die trying, or probably die trying to escape. Well, between the two…

He grunted in forcing his remaining energy into his hands and then some. Between them, the purplish Roar of Time ball quickly grew into being, and he rushed back into the room even as it was still growing. Considering Granakri's power, he could only believe a Roar of Time would injure him slightly, or better yet slow him. Either way, it would improve his chances at getting one of the orbs!

At once the large charizard-like Pokémon noticed him, whipping his head around.

Kol refused to give him time to react in releasing the potent, bright purple ball of temporal energy. It shot straight and true for the genetically altered charizard, and for just an instant, Granakri seemed to grimace…before intercepting the ball with a quick arm, deflecting it upward! A half moment later, the built-up energy hit the high ceiling, spreading out and fading harmlessly in a cloud of purple light.

With the death of the ball, his last hope died with it. Granakri was still standing and he was…

_Oh…_

It was immediately apparent the Roar of Time took more energy than he should have used. Suddenly faint, he collapsed to his knees before falling forward to the floor. Still conscious, he both heard and felt the heavy footfalls of large clawed feet moving across the floor, the tips of one coming into his sideways view.

He closed his eyes. A childhood nightmare was about to come true: meeting his end at the hands of the legendary destroyer Granakri…just like so many of his people's forebears had…

* * *

Lonny's Protect faded around them after Kol collapsed to the floor many meters away. Leo Hanson caught the former swampert with an arm as she likewise collapsed, the extreme exertion of maintaining her shield around all of them for so long, and against Granakri's powerful last attack, being too much.

He looked to his wife and saw raw, pure fear through the red hair covering part of her face. She was hardly moving, as if paralyzed from the events unfolding in front of them.

He wasn't doing any better.

The large, dark charizard approached Kol, posing the claws of one hand above the now helpless hybrid. His swampert counterpart had been right: their former enemy had truly been trying to help them. But Kol now appeared done…leaving only one action that could be taken.

Easing the unconscious Lonny to the floor, he stood calmly, aimed the handgun for the charizard's head, and without further hesitation, pulled the trigger.

He wasn't sure if the first bullet hit, but after the third, he was certain they were deflecting off the Pokémon's skin instead of penetrating. By the fourth, Granakri raised an arm, as if protecting his head. The remaining shots were similarly ineffective against other parts of his body, especially the black armor it was wearing over its chest. Then…the gun was empty.

To the right, his counterpart was reduced to crawling across the floor, reaching an unmoving Blaze. Sceptile was also on the floor, maybe passing into unconsciousness. Akri was far in one corner, unconscious or dead, he couldn't tell. Same for the three skarmorys as they lay either nearby at the base of the wall, or near the raised platform. The rhydon was way across the large room, similarly unmoving.

Kol had been right all along. This Pokemon, however it was made or came to be, was truly undefeatable! Bringing down Kol on Fore-Nine island, defeating the Lieutenant, taking down General Enpersen: those things they had done. But this…_monster_…his power was beyond imagining! All their attacks, all the hits they dealt against him, and he didn't even look so much as winded!

Granakri turned more toward him…took a quick step, sharp teeth fully bared, eyes narrowed…then abruptly paused, as if thinking about how exactly to kill them.

He wanted to say something…anything, but before he could figure out anything that might spare their lives, a second infernape was running straight at him!

"Ruby, NO!" Sally yelled, reaching too late.

Leo tried grabbing her long tail, but likewise too late as the female infernape went charging toward the several times-larger Pokemon to come to a stop behind him, yipping wildly, her mane puffing.

Throwing the gun barrel she still held at him, it struck his side with seemingly no effect. Granakri started to reply angrily to her in Poké speech, but stopped as she started glowing. Before he could bring a hand down to shield himself, a large wall of flames erupted from her with a whoosh!

Leo immediately pulled Sally down with him as the Fire Blast hit and reflected off the dark charizard…and went on to engulf much of the room from head-height on up! Even several feet under the flames, the heat was intense enough he thought he was going to incinerate! Sally screamed.

In seconds it was over. In a few more seconds, he looked up after the sound of a heavy thud, finding the female infernape flying back toward them with Granakri's massive tail just completing a swing. Ruby hit the ground a couple meters from them and slid hard into the wall.

"Well, if that's _all_," Granakri growled as if bemused…before turning to anger: "I have to deal with one of my _former_ servants first. _Then_ you'll have my full attention."

After putting a hand on his wife's back to make her stay with Lonny, he moved the few steps to Ruby. She was alive, but softly moaning, almost seeming delirious with obvious pain. "Hey, that was foolish," he whispered, stroking her forehead and ears. But then, it was pretty certain they were going to all die anyway…

Her red lips formed a smile as her head rocked slightly amid her panting.

"That was some attack, though." Smiling weakly, "I didn't know you could do such a thing."

"Infra ye he gra…" she whispered back.

Focusing on her at least took his mind off his own fear for a half moment. Then her yellow and blue eyes moved and he followed them, and watched with renewed horror as Granakri used his large claws to pick up Kol.

* * *

Leo kept crawling and reached Blaze, heart pounding from dread. Blood was trickling around the infernape's lips, down around his chin, and to the floor on which he lay stomach-down. Managing no more than a urgent whisper: "Blaze?" It did no good; his friend was completely unconscious. Putting head and hand close to his partner's nose, he felt some slight relief in detecting warm breath. Looking closer at his mouth, he saw where Blaze's teeth punctured holes in his lips. Yet that didn't seem to account for all the blood, and…something about his neck…through his red hair…didn't look right…

"You…will now pay the price for opposing me, one I created!"

Even with panic over Blaze's condition, the booming voice grabbed his attention. Near the doors to the chamber, Granakri had Kol in his clawed grip. Kol looked awake, but in no condition to fight further; he wasn't even struggling.

He felt guilt in not being able to help the Pokemon-human who had helped him so much, but he was barely conscious himself, not to mention far too banged and broken up to be of any use. And…he could feel himself slipping away…

He refused to go under until he could do something to help his friend! The first aid kit, where was it…? But he needed the humans to use it! His fingers were too…

More movement grabbed his attention again. The General came staggering through the doors, the three human soldiers from the lower level behind him and none looking much better. The older, long-haired Pokemon-human stopped before Granakri, holding up his hand. In an unsteady, and out-of-breath voice: "Granakri, no! You must spare him!"

With bared teeth that almost were dripping with rage: "And why should I do that for this one?"

"I can…put him under my control again," the General strained to say, holding his stomach. "If he stays close, the control…would be permanent."

"He's become too powerful for your control to work any longer, Merdeth."

"But…then…just…"

Granakri's eyes narrowed in staring down at the older Pokémon-human. "Ahh. You should remember you donated only a few DNA strands, and they were altered at that. You are not his father. And I'm surprised you are having that kind of emotion, though it explains a few things."

The General acted distraught for a moment before regaining a more ridged stance, but still holding his stomach. With a more resign expression, "You're right, Granakri."

Still, the large Pokémon appeared to regard both the hybrids for a good moment more, then gently touched the top of the General's head with a claw from his other hand. Like a parent to a child: "Not every creation can work out, loyal one."

"Must…protect…"

Leo heard the faint voice before realizing Akri had followed him over to Blaze. Not floating, the Guardian was walking on his two small legs, tails dragging behind him, limping slowly…toward Granakri!

It hurt to move at any speed, but he slid himself the step needed to reach his arm and grab one of Akri's tails to stop him. "No, you can't help him!"

"Must protect…" Weakly, Akri moved his arms futilely in fighting him.

After giving a soft growl with a loud sigh, "Well, it really doesn't matter now; he's not threat anymore," the dark charizard announced. He let Kol fall from his grasp where the younger Pokemon-human just crumpled on the floor, surely passing out. Roaring: "And I'm about to gain everything I've ever wanted!"

Leo's heart jumped as Granakri swung toward his human self and Sally, spreading his wings as he approached them.

"Indeed, I really should thank you, _Leo Hanson,_" Granakri said, disarmingly polite. "You did exactly as I hoped."

* * *

Leo Hanson was frozen, heart pounding, as the large, dark-toned charizard-like Pokemon moved toward him, Sally, Lonny and Ruby. There wasn't even room to backup, save for a half meter into the wall! He heard Lonny hiss in regaining some consciousness, Sally still holding onto her a couple meters away. There was no way she could do another Protect, and what good what it do anyway?

The Pokémon paused over the other three humans soldiers, still knocked out on the floor. Looking down at them, "Wake up!"

Seemingly at once, the three soldiers did wake up, Akri's Hypnosis now obviously broken! The other three who had come with the General helped their fellows up.

The respite was short; Granakri closed the space between them in a few large steps. Now towering over him, the Pokemon appeared even larger than it had in the tent...and he felt about to faint himself from fear!

"I can feel it: you brought me the Griseous orb. Without which, I can _not_ summon Arceus."

The charizard-like Pokemon reached a clawed hand as Sally screamed, but the claws instead grabbed the backpack he was still wearing, and with the sound of ripped cloth and a sharp, painful tug that lifted him, the Pokémon had the pack in his claws. Another quick swipe, and its contents were on the ground...with the black Griseous orb shortly secured in the Pokémon's large hand.

One truth shone through like a sunbeam through a break in clouds: that Granakri could summon Arceus with two orbs...had been a lie!

"And that was the reason I allowed you to live, human," Granakri continued. "I thought there a chance you would reacquire it, that the skarmory was working with you somehow. Therefore, I had to do nothing and it would come here thanks to you." The grin from the charizard-like face faded to became all seriousness again. "But now..." Granakri raised a glowing hand...before it faded a moment later. Dropping his hand, "No. I'm going to let you live, to see what you were trying to stop." Backing up a couple large steps, the dark charizard swung around, tail curling around to avoid the wall. Barking: "Secure them."

The soldiers, despite some not looking fully recovered, moved quickly. Leo didn't resist when the former owner of the handgun reclaimed it from his limp hand with a jerk, and watched blankly as the soldier promptly changed the magazine and loaded a fresh round. He really wanted to spit as the dark charizard moved toward the platform. Instead, he watched two of the soldiers grab and push Lonny and Sally so they were all together, while the remaining four soldiers spread around the room, one standing over his swampert counterpart and Blaze. Which got his brief attention: the male infernape looked...not right about his neck. His counterpart had an arm wrapped around him with the other keeping hold of Akri for some reason...

He felt oddly numb at the entire scene. Sure, his fear faded some when Granakri decided not to kill them, though he got the impression it was only temporary. Clearly the genetically engineered charizard thought it punishment to allow them to live for the moment. Perhaps he was right. They were utterly defeated, failed in the attempt to stop this Poké monster from summoning Arceus, and now had to watch him perform it and do...whatever he planned!

Arceus...creator of all Pokemon, so his counterpart said the one skarmory told him. Well…if nothing else, they were about to find out for exactly what purpose Granakri wanted the Pokémon. Yes; this could be worse than if they had been killed.

Feeling arms around his legs, he looked down to his wife, Ruby, and Lonny, the former swampert leaning against Sally. They all looked…resigned. Especially Ruby, who looked on the verge of passing out.

With a brisk pace about his large, fat legs, the dark charizard went to each of the three short marble columns, spaced equidistant around the raised platform, almost slamming an orb into the top of each as an eerie colored light shone up from them in his wake.

The entire scene became surreal.

After a downward tugging, he yielded to Sally's sad and fearful expression to finally sit between her and Ruby, where she quickly wrapped an arm around him, shaking. Hugging her tight, he waited, noting Lonny looking off toward her own love, but separated by at least one soldier.


	25. Chapter 25: An Ancient Plan

_Good grief, has it really been three months shy of two years since I posted the first chapter? Well, this is finally it: the final chapter. Well, I do intend to write an epilogue yet, but for all intents and purposes, this is the end. I want to thank each and every one of you, dear readers and those who added this story to your favorites, for sticking with my story, despite the sometimes long intervals between chapters. I hope I've taken you on quite the Pokémon journey, making it sometimes tense and thrilling, sometimes sad, but always enjoyable and entertaining._

_**Thank you!**_

_Will there be anything more after this once the epilogue is completed? Maybe. With any luck, I will have more artwork to go with this story. And I would like to continue with a few of the characters in a different direction. For the near term though, I need a break and to recharge, and want to read some stories written by others for a while (something I've been meaning to do for quite some time). If you want to keep tabs on any possible sequel, just check my profile page from time to time. I'll keep it updated on any upcoming project (under my blog), though it might be a little while. _

_As always, feel free to throw a PM my way or post a comment/review. Thanks again!  
_

* * *

**Chapter XXV: An Ancient Plan**

Leo barely noticed Granakri set the Lustrous, Adamant and Griseous orbs on the three short columns around the platform and the weak, like-colored light which emanated upward from them. The dark charizard had won…and he didn't care anymore. Although Sceptile was alive though all but wiped out nearby and Akri fainted in front of him, most his attention was on Blaze.

His friend and partner, with him through so much.

He hadn't seen how Granakri's last attack hurt him or how his friend hit the wall, yet one injured him in an obviously very bad way. Gently parting his partner's mane and white hair on the back of his neck with a large finger, he found the orientation slightly _wrong_. Alarmed, he checked Blaze's breathing again; it had become shallow, ragged…

He started fearing the worst.

As hurting and close to fainting as he was, he refused to do so. He had to stay awake! Somehow…to help his friend... Very carefully, he moved to straighten his partner's neck…then stopped. He didn't have that kind of medical knowledge! He couldn't be certain if he would be hurting Blaze worse or not! Would his human self or Sally know?

A low, growly voice literally boomed, demanding his attention and interrupting his growing panic.

"ARCEUS, ALPHA POKÉMON, _I SUMMON YOU!_"

Keeping his large arm on Blaze's back to hold him steady, he watched the dark charizard stand halfway between the doors and the platform, spreading his large wings as he raised his arms, as if indeed calling.

A moment passed. Then…

…the two orbs he could see suddenly grew brighter as if flaring, with the three shafts of blue, white and pale green light intensifying. Within mere heartbeats, the light became nearly blinding!

Granakri stood in obvious anticipation, his red eyes alight: "Come forth Arceus…and meet me!"

The room grew brighter still, this time from the platform itself glowing in increasing radiance, forcing him to shut his eyes. A faint hum came from seemingly all around as a unfamiliar sent entered his nose. Then like shades being pulled to block sunlight, the blinding light subsided. Able to see again, he saw the raised platform still had a faint glow about it, now casting light upward…onto a most magnificent creature, unlike any he had seen! Nearly pure white save for its chest and underside of light grey, it had a odd part ring partway around its abdomen that looked of gold and practically glowing itself. Such beauty and radiance…he felt transfixed by it, unable to move or breathe…even feeling somewhat at peace…

"I am Arceus," a soft, somewhat high-pitched voice asked with no hint of anger or malice. "Who called me to this ancient place?"

Leo moved his eyes to the dark charizard-like Pokémon, his colors seemly clashing with Arceus's and looking menacing in contrast. Beside Granakri, the General looked to be in some awe of the Original One, though.

"_I_ summoned you," Granakri answered with no hint of reverence, but did move his tail behind him some. "I'm Granakri, and I think you can detect my power."

Arceus tilted his elegant head slightly, the long and seemingly stiff mane on top shimmering. "You do seem to hold much energy. Now, what is your purpose in summoning me?" The Pokémon turned his head, apparently taking in the room as his eyes shortly swept over Leo…lingering there…

He couldn't place the feeling, but it was as if the Original One was looking past his blue skin, and straight into his soul… He found himself suddenly looking away under the perceived examination!

Baring the tips of his teeth, Granakri brought his clawed hands together as if folding his arms. "I wish to expand my abilities. The current universe can be improved by my guidance…and you can give me the power to do so!"

Arceus broke his stare in turning his head sharply on the charizard-like Pokémon. "I see. Well, that is a power which I cannot bestow to you."

Granakri huffed. "Of course it can, if the legends hold any truth! You can grant it by giving me the Jewel of Existence!"

"The Jewel of _Creation_ is not something I will give you, Pokémon," Arceus answered flatly.

The dark charizard's slim shoulders moved, indicating a sigh as he took a few steps as part of some pacing. After a half-growl: "No…I didn't think you would. You once created a different jewel also according to legend, made from five of your powers. _This_ jewel is created from all _twelve_ of your powers, is it not? And forming that jewel would cause you to…die, correct?"

Arceus didn't reply.

"But you _can_ do it." Stopping his pacing: "Therefore, Arceus, I command you to form that jewel and give it to me!"

A moment passed before Arceus took a couple slow steps to the edge of the platform, lowering his head slightly. "I obey…"

The change was quick, although the only change Leo could see was one about Arceus's one eye, where is suddenly turned to a pale red. Rather, it was more a feeling, the room suddenly feeling tense, electrified, angry.

With a low, growly, angry voice, Arceus finished: "…NO ONE!"

Granakri started chuckling only many seconds later. Lowering his own head and bringing wings inward, "It wasn't hard to anticipate this outcome." With a brief look to the General, enough to move an arm to make clear the Pokémon-human needed to back far up, "But forming that jewel by your own will isn't the only way for me to gain it, is it? The ancient legend says there is one other…er, method: by killing you!"

Arceus growled as the unnaturally brilliant Hyperbeam erupted out of Granakri's mouth. But the Original One didn't move as the beam hit…almost. A bare meter before the white Pokémon's head, it dissipated in midair!

Granakri's blue eyes widened. Then growling, he begun to seemingly unleash his entire range of attacks: Thunderbolts, Flamethrowers, Spacial Rend, even the purplish Roar of Time.

If he wasn't so close to passing out…if Blaze wasn't so badly hurt, Leo knew he would've been impressed at the display of expended Pokémon energy. Doubly so from every single attack likewise dissipating inexplicitly before Arceus, as if Granakri would have been better off throwing rocks! All during that onslaught, the white dragon hardly moved, though his one visible eye grew deeper and deeper red…

With a roar that vibrated the floor, a red sphere, the same attack that nearly killed everyone, exploded outward from the dark charizard's colliding hands, this time directed only forward. From the side, it was as a translucent wave, almost beautiful in form in focused into a small wave…meeting the same fate as all the previous attacks before even so much as touching Arceus.

Leo smiled, just slightly. It was satisfying seeing Granakri starting to pant. Finally…all his energy use was catching up with him, though it was still far beyond the limit of any Pokémon he knew. Even Dialga and Palkia.

In seemingly growing desperation, the charizard-like Pokémon rushed forward before turning to use his massive tail, swinging the appendage toward the white Pokémon in a pure physical blow.

Arceus now moved, raising a glowing foreleg and blocking Granakri's tail with seemingly no effort. Granakri continued to follow through, finishing his turn to swipe at the white dragon with his claws. He met only empty air as Arceus jumped into the air and over the attack. Snarling, Granakri pursued upward, his unfolding his great wings and using his massive legs to give him thrust as the soldiers hurriedly crouching down, bracing themselves.

The dark charizard was too slow though; Arceus dropped back down to the platform further back, allowing Granakri to go sailing well overhead. Another Hyperbeam from his mouth proved the dissipating effect around Arceus wasn't just around his front.

With even physical attacks proving difficult to land, the dark charizard flew a circle to land back where he started, swinging about to face the Original One once again. Snarling with rage yet hints of fear: "You can't be immune to everything!"

"I've known of you for quite some time," Arceus replied, nearly pure red eyes narrowed and voice deeper than before. "I know your origin, many of your deeds. Now I've decided to pass judgment upon you!" Even as his voice ended in a near scream, lightning bolts erupted from the ring around the white dragon, striking the six soldiers with a certain angry intensity. Each human convulsed and screamed briefly, soon collapsing as smoke rose from their charred bodies. Then the General, still against the wall near the doorway, let out a shriek while grabbing his head, promptly collapsing himself.

Granakri swung his massive head side to side, blue eyes becoming even wider in taking in what just happened to each of his servants. "How _dare_ you!" With a rage-filled scream, he spread his wings and leveled his arms at Arceus, two beams of intense reddish light erupting from them, straight at Arceus.

The white dragon didn't wait for them to dissipate. Again from his ring, an equally intense white light came forth, intercepting Granakri's attack. For several moments, the energies appeared evenly matched: white meeting red halfway, creating a fading shock wave through the air not unlike ripples in a pond. Yet although it was first imperceptible, it started increasing in rate: white was gaining on the red.

Granakri roared, his narrow charizard-like face conveying obvious strain in trying to pour out even more energy. As the dark charizard's energy brightened, the white light became brighter still, growing in strength, keeping its steady march. Granakri lowered himself, bracing his legs and strained even more…a suddenly desperate look coming about him as Arceus's energy was nearly upon him. It was obvious he was caught: impossible to move out of the way without ending his attack…but unable to end his attack without the white energy instantly engulfing him! A scream erupted from his throat as the white light start engulfing him anyway.

The white light grew ever brighter as Granakri's screams intensified.

"This is my JUDGEMENT, vile creation!" Arceus roared.

Leo closed his eyes to mere slits in the face of the painfully bright light reflecting off every surface; he could barely see his infernape friend beside him before having to close them all the way. Then in the noise and commotion of the battle, he felt it: Blaze stopped breathing…

_No! Blaze!_

A hideously pained roar from Granakri shook the floor. Then…pure silence.

The world dimming, Leo felt the tears flow down his face as his consciousness slipped away.

* * *

Leo Hanson held his wife as they sat on the floor, trying to shield her along with Lonny and Ruby against…whatever was about to come. The white-marbled room was so bright with Granakri engulfed, that even facing away he still had to clamp his eyes shut. He prayed there wouldn't be any more lightning bolts; by the charring of the nearest of the soldiers, he believed the hefty man to be dead! But it had only struck the soldiers…

A deafening roar like a charizard in pain shook the floor, and Sally tensed in his arms. Even Lonny trembled against him before it died a moment later, leaving nothing but utter silence although his ears rang loudly. Sensing the intense light fade, he opened his eyes again and slowly turned around, fearing what he might see. Instead, there was only Arceus facing them from the platform. Granakri was…_gone_, and the red in Arceus's eyes was fading. As moments came and went, a new illumination appeared… No, they…_all of them…_were glowing! Sally, Lonny, Ruby, Sceptile, the three skarmorys, the rhydon…even his swampert counterpart, Blaze and Akri were glowing a soft white!

In alarm, he struggled against a sudden intense feeling of weariness to get his wife and Lonny lower against the floor, instantly believing the same fate that Granakri suffered was befalling them as well. Yet this glow _felt_ soft…warm…tingling… A voice from nowhere and everywhere said he was safe and not to fear. Almost before he thought to, he stopped struggling and allowed the gentle, caring feeling to envelope him as his eyes closed of their own accord, succumbing to his exhaustion. There was no sense of time; it could have been seconds…or days. As his eyes opened again, he was laying on his side, nearly face-to-face with Sally who was just coming to herself.

The question was obvious in her expression, as it was his question too. Sitting up was odd, finding himself without any hint of exhaustion; in fact, he never felt better! "What hap…" Turning from the wall, he first noticed the soldiers were missing before his breath caught. On the platform Arceus still stood as if he'd been waiting.

"It is about time you rejoined the universe," the elegant white and gray Pokémon seemed to say without any movement of its mouth.

Other movement got his attention: Lonny and Ruby were now sitting up also (and looking quite healthy), the three skarmorys were getting to their feet and spreading their golden wings in seeming disbelief as they looked themselves over, the rhydon was standing, blinking, and Akri was floating up off the floor. His swampert counterpart…he was waking up as well, getting up from behind Blaze...

* * *

Leo's eyes drifted open, the feeling of warmth fading. It was…something he'd never experienced before. Then came the realization of something he _wasn't_ feeling which grabbed his attention: no pain. In fact, in moving his legs, he felt healed. _Completely!_

Well, physically. His heart was still filled with pain…

…before noticing his arm over his partner's back was moving slightly.

Blaze was breathing!

Jumping to his feet, he kept his large hand on the infernape's back with growing hope…hope that was fulfilled heartbeats later as Blaze woke up!

"Blaze?" Lifting his hand, he stared wide-eye as Blaze sat up in front of him, legs flat out in front of him, tail curled around his waist, and neck looking straight again. His tears started up again…this time from happiness!

"Leo?" the infernape said, looking up, than cocking his head. "Hey, why the…"

"He is healed," Arceus's voice announced, seemingly from everywhere again.

"Uh…what happened?" Blaze asked, his brow ridge furrowing. "Who's talking?"

"You are healed," Akri chimed in from above, swooping down to graze one of Blaze's long ears with a small hand and looking every bit recovered himself.

In fact in looking around, his heart was further lifted seeing Grovyle, Lonny, Ruby, Sally and his other self looking just as fine if not better! Even the three skarmorys and the rhydon on the other side of the room… "Blaze, how do you feel?" asking as his heart raced, almost unable to believe it.

"I…don't remember anything after…" His yellow and blue eyes widening suddenly, he swung his head around and gasped. "Ha ha! Where's Granakri…and who's that?"

Leo opened his mouth, but Arceus responded.

"I'm Arceus," the white dragon Pokémon answered mentally in a gentle, soothing "voice". "I dispatched that vile creature. And to answer your next question, yes, I brought you back from the dead, Blaze. It was easy as you were dead for but a moment, and nothing…more permanent happened."

So…that confirmed _that_, Leo thought, wiping his tears before wrapping his arms around the still sitting infernape to give him a tight hug.

"I…was…_dead?_" Blaze stammered in not noticing the hug, his mane doing its best to puff up around it as he otherwise seemed quite stiff. "But…"

"Healing your body was all that was required, brave infernape. In fact, all of you were brave."

Releasing Blaze before he crushed him to death, Leo observed the astonished looks from everyone else. In fact, Uononi was giving a bow to Arceus, while the other two skarmorys and the rhydon seemed frozen with awe. Giving Blaze a hand in getting up, they joined the others where he quickly returned Lonny's hug. There were no words; none were needed as he enjoyed the simple pleasure of holding her blue-skinned human form tight against him. But he noticed over her shoulder Kol's head popping up from behind the circular platform part way around the room.

"So, Granakri is defeated then?" the Pokémon-human asked after a moment of seemingly getting his bearings.

Arceus gave a nod.

"Where are the soldiers?" Sally asked, not really directing the question to anyone in particular.

"They met the end most who support tyranny meet," the white dragon supplied, then as if anticipating: "Yes, dead."

"But not him?" Kol pointed to the General, laying near the doors. With slight distain: "I think he's alive yet."

"He is," Akri said on the way to the other Pokémon-human.

"He's stronger than ordinary humans, just like you," Arceus pointed out. "But his time doing wrong is done. For _you_, I believe you now have quite a bit of work to do on your world, am I correct? Granakri wasn't the only presence I felt from the past."

Kol started backing up. "You…_know_ about me?"

The white Pokémon appeared to hesitate, as if thinking of an appropriate answer and even showing a visible sigh of contemplation. "Somewhat. I knew one who would show up here would be the one fighting for freedom on his world."

"So are you truly are the Original One that we've heard about?" Sally asked.

"Were you the very first Pokémon to exist?" Leo heard his human self ask just before he could get the words out of his own mouth. At least they were still thinking alike! Right next to his other self, the other infernape, Ruby, cocked her head and opened her mouth too, but nothing came out in clearly rethinking it.

"I've been called 'Original One' over the eons," Arceus answered. "I was the first I think, though I'm not sure how I, myself, came to be. It was a _very_ long time ago." The ancient Pokémon seemed to chuckle for a moment, then: "Since you have many questions, I will stay to answer them considering what you have done for me."

"I have one," Sceptile announced in approaching the edge of the platform, scratching his one wrist leaf blade. "What exactly did we do? Granakri still summoned you, despite us trying to stop him. And then it looked like you defeated him easily! So…what did we accomplish? And why didn't you just take care of him earlier? It could have saved a lot of trouble."

Leo started translating the grass-type's question at the same time as Lonny…and stopped at the same time too. He nodded to let his mate have the "honor".

"Ah! Direct, aren't you?" the Original One commented with tone of humor, looking down upon the Pokémon from the edge of the platform.

Sceptile seemed to jerk upright, as if hit by something. "I…didn't mean to…"

"No apology; you deserve a direct answer. Actually several. And the first answer is I needed you to make sure that creature obtained the Griseous orb so I _could_ be summoned."

"Huh?" Blaze exclaimed, yellow and red mane puffing up again.

Leo at first wanted to mirror his partner's reaction, but then saw the logic. Well, some of it. "You had to be summoned by the orbs? You couldn't just…er…pop in here?"

"I could, but I didn't know when," Arceus replied. "Although I generally knew what was going to happen even very long ago, I didn't know exactly when. Although I try to kept track of events, the universe is a big place, and there is only one of me. The signal the three orbs sent out alerted me that it was the right time. And the timing was critical. If I had showed up before Granakri had summoned me, he might have thought I came to destroy him, since I otherwise wouldn't confront him unless I knew I could defeat him. He therefore might have teleported, and the opportunity lost. It was vital for him to think he was in control."

"Ah…oh," Blaze murmured.

On the other side of the room, the rhydon was moving his one claw through the air, as if trying to follow.

"So then…it was _you_…who knew what was going to happen, created the map, and set everything up?" Lonny asked, sounding a little bit angry. "Even knowing I would change into _this?_" waving her hands at herself.

"A portal through dimensions or time is a delicate thing and carries heavy risk; you would have died if I hadn't changed you," Arceus said. "Same with you Leo. The energy that hit each of you while inside the portals can have only one outcome, unless it was directed elsewhere. It's rather difficult to explain, but your bodies had to absorb the energy one way or another, and the only way for that was to alter your very forms. And yes, I had foreseen that also a very long time ago, and had that put on the map so you would know it was meant for you." After a huff of like someone having achieved something great: "I'm quite proud that it all worked, actually. It's difficult to set up so many disparate threads in time and space to work together and triggered in the correct order."

Leo shook his head, mirroring, he was sure, what everyone else was feeling. "So…all of this was setup up, by you, just so we could make sure Granakri got a hold of the Griseous orb?" He heard his human self add: "We were the only ones who could get the orb from that place?"

"Only Ruby's key could open _that_ portal," Arceus said.

"But she's from the _past!_" Blaze blurted, pointing at the female infernape. "You did that too?"

"Huh?" Leo stared at his partner; in their rush to catch up, no one told him that part! "She's from the past?" His partner stared back, as if just realizing the omission himself.

"I think I should tell you a story," the Original One said quickly before anyone else could get a word out. First kneeling at the edge of the platform, then sitting on his stomach with the golden ring around him folding upward to allow it, he formed an instant picture of complete serenity.

Leo wasn't sure if he was in the mood or not, given all the activity and surprises of the day already, but he still felt a lingering calmness about him despite the ten thousand questions flooding his mind. With Arceus seemingly waiting for them to do something, he sighed and laid down in guessing the hint, while giving Ruby a side-long stare.

"You must all be really special," the rhydon whispered as he arrived with Kol to lay down nearby.

"Sure seems like it," Kol added.

"Ha ha," was Blaze's only comment before he plopped down on his own backside, whipping his tail out of the way and looking very unsettled. Mumbling: "Can't believe all this; could've just wrote it all on the map."

"Would we really have believed it all?" Lonny asked in an equally quiet whisper.

After that, the humans and Ruby sat next to them, with Akri finding a spot to hover between everyone and the doors. He seemed distracted by the General for whatever reason…

Arceus made a slight nod after the last of them were seated. "Now first thing is, this planet is the original planet, the very first planet of life I created, and it was my only home for quite some time. In time, Pokémon populated it, as they did on Earth and a few other planets. But other life arose on Earth as well, most notably humans. They eventually advanced enough that a few thousand years ago, they were well along in developing their many civilizations. Observing this, I wanted humans to spread out from their solitary world, to spread their civilizations and intelligence. And…I admittedly was lonely on this world too. So I asked the three first dragons, Dialga, Palkia and Giratina, to each take a group of humans and bring them to separate planets, as I would bring a group to this one.

"Giratina wasn't interested, deciding to stay in his world. But both Dialga and Palkia saw opportunity to shape their own civilizations. Dialga brought his group to the world most of you were on before coming here, and had them create many things over several generations, including his Temporal Tower. Palkia choose a different world, bringing his group to the world you are from, Kol."

Kol opened his mouth in apparent protest, but promptly shut it when Arceus gave him a stare.

"I brought my group here," the white and grey Pokémon continued. "Over time, I taught them many things about the workings of the universe and of life itself. They used that knowledge and grew with it, creating many of their own wonders and miracles, including this temple and wondrous technology. After having watched over them for them for generations, I left here, satisfied their future was secure.

"It was sometime later when I began sensing something. Every ability Dialga, Palkia and Giratina have, I have too, and I foresaw a problem in the future, one that if not dealt with when the time came, would have terrible implications for all life. And the trouble originated…from _my_ human charges.

"I returned, finding a world in conflict. Pokémon had turned against humans, and humans had been fighting to keep them at bay over the course of many years. I soon learned the source: the humans were attempting to change Pokémon, using the science of genetics to bestow more human qualities on them. They had made untold attempts, with many of what they deemed failures pushed back into the wilds, where instead of dying, they survived, _thrived_, and gathered up large numbers of Pokémon in order to exact some revenge.

"By the time of my return, the humans had though…recently managed one, what they called success. That success is you, Ruby."

Leo gave the female infernape a new stare. There was a tear on her face…

"Despite that, I forbade any continuation of the research. You remained with the humans, Ruby, and the humans did obey, but things were already far along an unalterable course by that point. The wild Pokémon continued to grow stronger and the humans weaker as one city after another had to be abandoned. The humans simply couldn't come up with powerful enough weapons to hold off the combined power of masses of Pokémon…not without wrecking the planet, although the weapons they did use were not without effect.

"The continued killing both angered and saddened me. Returning a final time, I had Palkia remove all remaining humans to join his civilization on his world. I also punished the Pokémon by charging them with guarding the portal to Giratina's world and warning what may come in the future. As a last precaution, I then sealed this world and its solar system away in a partially separate dimension, and created only one way in and out, for the only way to keep it safe was to not permit humans and Pokémon to meet each other on it for a very long time."

"Yet, what I saw of the future didn't change, despite thinking I had prevented it. The humans from this world took their old knowledge with them, and since I had made them angry in banishing them from here, they restarted their old experiments, ultimately resulting in a Pokémon with such power and intelligence, they had no hope of controlling him."

"Granakri," Kol said quietly.

Arceus nodded. "By then, I knew Dialga was right in saying that trying to change the future without changing the past, something I refused to do, was difficult, even for me. Thus I had to allow events to continue on their natural path. All I could do was make preparations for dealing with it when the proper time arrived. Towards that, I had an aircraft stored at a hidden place, programmed, and the map drawn and set to be found at the proper time along with the control crystal. I also further charged some of the Pokémon here to help a very special group of humans and Pokémon when they arrived in the far future.

"Then, we did our part?" Uononi squawked from behind everyone.

"I never thought this would all happen during _my_ life!" another of the skarmorys exclaimed.

"It seems you did, since they are here and I was summoned," Arceus answered. Then facing Ruby again: "When I had all humans removed from here, that was shortly before you were chased away from your home. _You_ in particular had an important part to play in the future, since you carried the key to the Griseous orb. Close to the point of your death, I created a time displacement to allow help to arrive and for transport to this time. I'm sure you've realized by now you're several thousand years in the future?"

Ruby nodded, but looked sad. "Then…_you_ did that? You actually saved me?"

"Not I alone of course," the Original One replied with a lifted leg, pointing at everyone in turn.

"Doesn't changing the past have an effect on the future though?" Blaze asked, his tail giving a twitch. "I mean, from our point of view…that was the past!"

Of course, he and Blaze knew all about that, Leo thought!

Arceus laughed, causing the humans to stare at the infernape, surely wondering what he had said. "Of course you and Leo already witnessed that first hand, haven't you two?" the white Pokémon burst out in his mental voice.

He didn't think it was particularly funny, then was taken aback that Arceus knew about those events, but still quickly translated Blaze's question for his human self and Sally, thinking he knew what the answer was going to be. And as he assumed, his other self seemed to guess the same thing while setting a hand on the female infernape's shoulder: "Since she was already going to die soon…"

"That's correct," Arceus said. "Ruby, since you were already going to die, it made little difference to the future if you were…_plucked_ out of time just before that happened."

"Made a difference to me…" the infernape mumbled.

"Now, that is the end of the story," Arceus continued. "What happens from now on in your lives…is up to you."

"Wow," Blaze said in monotone, before silence fell upon the room.

Leo worked on mentally digesting everything the white Pokémon had said, while watching Sceptile continuing to rub a leaf blade to the point of shininess, certain the others were doing the same mental work. All except for Akri, who seemed to be most interested in the General who remained unconscious some distance away, his head tilting from one side to the other as he floated above the older Pokémon-human. He wondered suddenly why Arceus hadn't killed him too along with the soldiers. Surely he could of!

"What's going to happen to him?" he heard his human self ask, pointing to the General.

"I have a few ideas," Kol replied ominously, getting up from the floor and stretching, before running a hand through his shortened white hair.

Leo watched as Sally also got up and approached the fallen Pokémon-human, her mate following with a "Be careful". After a couple seconds of kneeling down by him: "He is definitely alive." Gradually, she felt his neck, seemingly confirming a heartbeat.

"Yes, yes, very much alive!" Akri chimed out as if cheery about the fact, earning a few looks.

"Maybe we should leave him here," the human Leo suggested, leaning over his wife's shoulder, then with a look to Arceus: "Can you handle him?"

"I was thinking of a trial," Kol interrupted, "once I can overthrow my government. Obviously that could still take a while."

Getting back up, Sally folder her arms. "Well good, you can take him with you then! He'd be too much of a danger on the Poké world or Earth. Like you were, but perhaps worse."

Kol's boyish pale face suddenly became troubled. "I'll need time first! If I brought him back now, I doubt I could maintain control of him; he'd soon either rejoin his government or be freed!"

That probably wouldn't be good for Kol's world, Leo thought as he rose to join his other self and Sally. After only the second step though, the General's body quickly formed a glow around it! That at once got him, Blaze, Sceptile, Lonny and Ruby running over in a hurry. Even the rhydon rushed over with all three skarmorys flapping their wings in following, though stopping at a respectable distance. "What's happening to him?" he almost panicked, directing it to Kol.

The younger Pokémon-human only responded with a quick head shake and a partly open mouth.

"His journey is not over," Arceus announced in his mental voice. "He must make amends."

Before any of them could ask what that meant, it became apparent the General's body was changing form amid its brightening glow…becoming smaller…rounded…fingers and feet disappearing, shrinking, until there was only the shape and color of…

The glow of the new form faded, and Sally was the first to exclaim the question: "An _egg?_ A _Pokémon egg?_"

"He will start a new life," Arceus said.

Even the smell was completely different, faintly familiar... Leo wanted to lean in and touch it, and Blaze was already reaching when the egg suddenly became enveloped in a different, darker light.

"Stand back," Arceus warned calmly yet urgently, his voice also conveying deep concentration.

Blaze's mane puffed as he leapt back, almost hitting Sceptile. Then in another moment, the egg faded out into nothing! "Ha ha, huh?" the infernape exclaimed, turning to Arceus.

Leo reached to hold Lonny back as she moved past, although she still managed to move a hand through the space the egg formerly occupied. "Where did..."

"I sent it back in time and to another place," the white Pokémon answered.

"Back...in...time?" Leo asked, hearing his other self repeat the "Where?" question.

"Why did you do that?" Kol voiced angrily, whipping about to face Arceus. Pointing to where the egg had been: "He has a lot to answer for! Now he's just become someone else's problem?"

Arceus seemed to take a deep breath before rising to his four legs, the golden ring retaking its place around him. "He had a new purpose to serve. One that was vital." And seemingly before Kol could get a word out: "And that will keep him from making any more trouble."

Lonny sighed loudly. "Well, at least he's out of our fins now. So what of Pokémon will he hatch to be?"

"And what is..._was_ his purpose?" Sceptile added.

"How far back?" Sally asked in piling on the questions.

Leo swore he saw something on Arceus's face change…almost like a smile.

"His memories will be weak and disjointed for quite a while after he hatches," the Original One began, "but he will remember and come to know his new purpose after a time. Of course he will be very different as you would expect."

"But what Pokémon?" Blaze insisted.

"You have already met him, actually. All of you."

Blaze's tail twitched along with the initial reactions from everyone else. "Huh?"

Leo nearly jumped out of his blue skin as Akri burst out above in a loud laugh, feeling the Guardian's tails brush over his head fins as the Azelf-like Pokémon came floating down in front and before the Original One.

"He he he, I have served my purpose then, Great Arceus?"

"Indeed you have, Akri. The great plan has finally been concluded with success."

He felt no small amount of shock as his fins and gills tingled with the severity of it. Even his face felt flush! Kol's boyish face expressed such to an even greater degree, and quite obviously leaving the Pokémon-human in shock!

"This...Pokémon, was the General all along?" Kol asked as if breathless.

Leo shook his head, noticing his partner's red face becoming contorted in confusion. Stunned silence seemed to be the case with everyone else.

* * *

Leo Hanson had met Akri only a few hours before. He had "known" the General for at least a day. Still, Akri and the (former) General Enpersen seemed as different as two living beings could get. Even with his swampert counterpart, who undeniably had changed physically a great deal, still retained his personality, as did Lonny hers. But Akri…

"So you changed Lonny, and my husband in another time line, and now this guy?" Sally asked, almost pointing to Akri before stopping.

"Then you can change me back into a swampert?" Lonny followed up, moving in front of everyone else and pointing to her chest.

Leo started opening his mouth with the move from one surprise to another, almost coming up with some response to talk her out of it. Her question made him realize how much he'd become used to the former swampert's nearly human form. At some point he had stopped thinking of her as a former Pokémon, even with her light blue skin and small head fins; she was part of the human family now. There certainly was no doubt she'd become accustomed to her body also, having grown as agile and confident in her movements as either he or Sally. And he still thought she didn't look half-bad, with her growing blonde hair starting to really look like hair. For her to change back into a swampert would feel like losing a friend in a way… Would she even retain the ability to speak the human language?

"Lonny, you're doing well as a human," his wife said, moving past Blaze and Ruby to stand beside her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Thanks, but…"

His counterpart held her arm as Blaze and Sceptile both spoke in turn.

Arceus appeared to watch this for moment with an odd regard, his head cocking slightly. Then: "Lonny, are you sure that's want you want? Your friends think you have adapted well, and I think you've discovered by now there are many advantages to that form."

"I want my abilities back," she replied after just a moment's hesitation.

"But the way you've been using Protect, Lonny," Sally said.

Lonny looked to her, then back to the swampert. More quietly: "And I want to be suitable for my Leo again."

"But I love you just as much this way," the swampert replied.

"You're still a swampert, and with me in this form, we can't…er…"

Leo hid a grin, getting the jist of what she was saying. Of course, the other option was for his counterpart to request being made human again, but then there would be two of him in the same form! Predictably, his counterpart wasn't bringing that option up…

"Ah," Arceus said with a tone that spoke of knowing. "You don't _have_ to be in your previous form for that."

"I…don't?"

"You might be surprised what you've retained. After all, your transformation was obviously not complete. You weren't hit by enough of the energy for it to do so."

From his view to her side, Lonny looked to be suddenly very uncertain. Beside him, Blaze's face was anything but uncertain with the deeper shade of red it was undertaking. Even Sceptile looked a bit brown under his eyes all of the sudden. Somewhere behind, the skarmorys were shuffling around, whispering. Again, he searched for something supportive to say (that wasn't embarrassing).

"I think you're just fine as you are right now," Sally said, rubbing her shoulder. "Of course the decision is yours but…I'd miss this form for sure."

Lonny smiled weakly before facing the swampert. Gently taking one of his gills in her one hand, "Are you sure you…don't care?"

"I'm truly fine with you either way," the swampert supported. "And you do look beautiful. Remember, I _am_ a former human."

Of course she could still be attractive to him then, Leo thought in remembering that little fact. Feeling relieved he didn't have to say anything after all, he watched Lonny and his counterpart rest their heads against each other, before noticing Arceus step off the platform to stand in front of all of them, looking down from his still greater height.

"What do you decide?" the great white dragon Pokémon asked.

"I…" With a frustrated sigh: "I don't know. I still miss all my other my abilities, but this body…isn't bad either."

"I should be truthful," Arceus continued. "You can't be changed back, either of you. The change the two of you went through is permanent, at least not without taking significant risk. To alter your bodies a second time would mostly likely kill you. The first time was risky enough, but since the alternative was certain death, there was nothing to lose, although I had good reason to believe it would work as that was what I saw of the future. Unfortunately the side effect for Leo was near complete memory loss, but in your case Lonny, you were luckier, if only because your change was incomplete. And the same is true for Akri, although with him starting as both human and Pokémon already, made the transition less risky."

Akri asked something, although his tone suggested he wasn't being serious.

"You…I will _not_ change back," Arceus said sternly. Then in a softer tone: "Besides, you look like you're having too much fun."

The floating Pokémon replied with a giggle as he moved high overhead to fly a few loops, even twirling around and making his tails fly.

Looking to his wife, he wondered what else they should ask, but she looked back with no indication of a question. And he realized that as far as the critical stuff went, Arceus already told them everything. Certainly there were tons of other things he could think of to ask out of pure curiosity, but nothing pertinent to their situation.

As far as the Pokémon, his counterpart was wrapping an arm around his own mate, Blaze was sticking close and talking in Poké speech to both Sceptile and the swampert. In response to a brush against him, he found Ruby's face filled with uncertainty as she approached a few steps to face Arceus, before yipping at length.

Lonny's and the Pokémon's faces suddenly stared at her.

"What's she…" he started ask his counterpart.

"I'm sorry, you miss your mother and friends," Arceus replied. "But you can't go back; it would upset the timeline. It may be of small comfort, but know that your mother made a good life for herself after Palkia transported her and all humans from this world. All of your people did. And…I believe she never forgot about you."

The female infernape stared down, tail limp, as silent tears trailed down her muzzle before she wiped them.

Tentatively, Leo moved with his wife to put a supportive hand on her shoulder. He thought about saying something to the effect of she had friends around her now in this time, but decided she probably needed to mourn some first. Sally also didn't say anything, but pulled the Ruby closer where the infernape rested her head against her chest.

Looking down on all of them, Arceus had the expression, even on his oddly-shaped face, of regretting the decision he had made, but soon raised his head again. "Then…there is nothing else, brave ones?" When no one answered after a half moment but for several sounds of indecision, the white dragon turned and begun to step back up onto the platform.

Blaze suddenly yipped loudly.

Arceus paused.

"He's asking about Dialga and Palkia," Lonny translated.

"Are they still alive?" the swampert said, apparently adding to what Blaze asked.

After finishing climbing up, Arceus turned partly around. "See the three orbs on the pedestals?", pointing his head to each in turn. "Take them. They have served their purpose here."

Blaze cocked his head, his mane falling to the side. "Infern?"

"Is he implying something?" Sally mumbled.

Leo shrugged, watching the male infernape practically leap to the nearest pedestal to grab the blue Adamant orb, while Sceptile and his swampert counterpart retrieved the white Lustrous and black Griseous orbs from the other pedestals around the platform. With obvious question in their eyes, all three came hurrying back.

Lonny leaned around her mate to have a look at the Lustrous orb he was holding, even laying a finger on it as Arceus raised his head up higher. "Now…throw each of them against the floor and shatter them!"

"Er…_what?_" the former swampert exclaimed as she jerked back, followed by an equally loud exclamation from Blaze.

Even Ruby looked behind her, her face still wet, as whispering arose from the three skarmorys and the rhydon who were all huddled near the doors.

"I said _shatter_ the three orbs," Arceus repeated. "Break them. Throw them against the floor as hard as you can." After Sceptile replied: "You'll see."

"Well, this should be interesting," Kol commented, taking several judicious steps backward.

In response to Sally's alarmed expression, Leo decided they should take a few steps back as well and helped her keep Ruby with them while earning a sharp and annoyed backward glare from his counterpart.

Puzzlement on his slender green face, Sceptile raised his arm in evidently preparing to throw down the Griseous orb.

"Oh, smash all three at the same time," Arceus quickly added.

Sceptile paused, waiting for the infernape and swampert to mimic him in raising their orbs. Then…all three Pokémon threw their orbs against the white marble floor like pitchers unleashing their fastest fast balls. Shards flew in all directions as the orbs shattered with smacks like solid glass balls breaking! At the same time, three flashes of light, and three distinct colored beams, shot toward the ceiling before arcing down, hitting the floor in three different spots and…

In almost exactly the manner of the beams that released Pokémon from their Pokéballs, three large Pokémon materialized around the raised platform. Three dragon Pokémon…

* * *

Blaze's yellow and blue eyes went wide: "Dialga!"

Leo shared his partner's joyous expression after the blue and silver dragon Pokémon materialized before them. And not just the time Pokémon, but Palkia too. And…a mostly yellow and black Pokémon with wispy wings. Giratina?

Both his human self and Sally looked stunned. Oh, of course! Neither of them had actually seen Palkia or Dialga before! And none of them had ever seen Giratina. Presumably Ruby hadn't met any of the three dragons either, judging by her open-mouthed stare.

"Are they…" the female infernape started to ask.

Sceptile somehow found the concentration to answer her while the three dragons looked about as if disorientated before spotting each other…and Arceus.

"Arceus…how are we here?" Dialga asked.

"You!" Palkia screamed, fixing his stare on Kol who was mostly behind everyone else. "Our battle isn't finished, creature!"

"Actually it was finished a long time ago, Palkia," the Pokémon-human replied, folding his arms across his chest. "And I wasn't your real enemy anyway."

The exchange got Dialga's attention as the time Pokémon swung his massive head to face the hybrid from a much shorter distance. After a second: "I see…_all_ of you are here. Leo…is the gate shutdown?"

It took Leo a second to remember that when Dialga and Palkia where "transported" elsewhere by Kol, they had arrived at the lab to destroy the gate! "Ah…it's all been taken care of," he replied. Without going into everything that had happened in the year and a half since, that seemed the best answer!

"Wait…some time passed…it feels later…" Dialga mumbled.

"Those orbs were really Pokéballs?" Sally asked, first looking to Leo, then to Sceptile, and finally Arceus.

"They held their energy," Arceus replied. "They were in a state of preservation."

"I'm guessing the place I was told to send them to was where Granakri could put them into the orbs," Kol added as Palkia approached him, looking fiercely angry. With Uononi and the skarmorys along with the rhydon moving to the other side of the room, "Can't speak for that other one, Giratina, though." With Palkia approaching, Kol visibly started bracing himself.

This was about to get messy, Leo thought, and moved to put himself between the two, Blaze moving with him.

Akri flew to beat both of them to the spot, however. Spreading his short, thin arms wide: "He not at fault! He only doing what was commanded to do, against his will."

Palkia did stop, but with his head directly over the Guardian. "_Who are you?_"

"What is going on?" Sally asked, to which Lonny summed it up in a whisper to both humans.

"STOP PALKIA," Arceus ordered. "No one here is your enemy. The two Leos will explain later what has happened since you and Dialga were imprisoned in your orbs."

"Us?" Leo exclaimed in unison with his human self. After exchanging a brief glance with the human: "Well, a _lot's_ happened." OK, so he would be going into everything after all…

"And who better to tell them?" Arceus added with a tone suggesting a smile. "And Giratina should know too, since by removing the orb from the resting spot, you also transferred him into it."

"So that's what happened to me," the yellow and black dragon said in a low voice that held a piercing edge to it, speaking his first words.

To the three dragons, Arceus continued: "I'll be brief: a battle has already been fought here, and those who wished to do harm have been defeated. Releasing you from your orbs was the last thing that needed to be done…before I leave."

"We just got here," Dialga replied. "We haven't seen you for…a very long time."

"I know, but it's time for me to leave this place now. There are other matters requiring me, and dealing with the Pokémon Granakri has already required a great deal of my efforts over the eons."

Palkia swung fully around to Arceus. "Granakri? Was _he_ the Pokémon that looked like a large charizard who battled us after this…" Moving his one arm back to indicate Kol, "_creature_…sent us away from Earth?"

"Yes," the Original One replied. "But he is gone now. He shall not trouble any of us again."

"Who is this Granakri?" Giratina asked without hint of emotion, directing the question to Arceus.

"The Leos will explain."

Leo thought for a second before launching into a the quick version: "He was a charizard some humans modified to have Dialga's and Palkia's powers, as well as others. He was unbelievably powerful and only Arceus could defeat him." Waving his large hand to everyone else in the room, "All of us together couldn't even tire him." Then on a glance to his dearest friend: "And some of us nearly died in the attempt."

"Then that explains why we couldn't handle him," Dialga said.

Which seemed to answer the yellow and black Pokémon's question as silence fell on the room for a moment.

But he suddenly thought of a million questions to ask of the white dragon as Arceus retreated toward the center of the platform. Yet he couldn't manage a word before Arceus spoke again.

"Dialga, watch that tower of yours better; we don't want a repeat of what happened in that other timeline," Arceus said with a voice of command. "Palkia, don't believe everyone who claims to know more about dimensional mechanics than you. And Giratina…start poking your head in the normal dimension once in a while and help your two counterparts when they need it."

All three dragon Pokémon appeared to bow their heads for a moment, before Arceus continued: "Now, I think you should all wait in the next room, since I need to have a private word with Palkia for a moment. After I'm done, Palkia will return all of you to where you came from. Including you, Kol."

This elicited a quick protest from Palkia, which the Original One shortly interrupted with a stare.

But Akri asked: "What do I now?"

"Whatever you want, Guardian of the portal to this world," the white dragon answered. "The portal no longer needs your attention. Humans are free to return to this world if they behave themselves…though I suspect it'll be a while before any do. And the Pokémon here…should be much more friendly by now," finishing with a stare to the three golden skarmorys and the rhydon.

The four Pokémon suddenly looked nervous…

"Then…I choose to stay with Leo!" Akri announced.

Leo sighed, watching the Azelf-like Pokémon swoop from above to practically touch his tail bulbs against his head fins. But he couldn't help cracking a smile: "Well, I guess I won't mind." Given his completely different form, it was actually easy to forget who the Guardian used to be, not to mention he acted nothing like the General. Not only was his transformation physical, it seemed to have completely altered his personality as well. He was at once glad his own transformation hadn't gone _that_ far!

Blaze led the way outside the chamber, a definite joy in his step as the large doors closed behind them. The infernape immediately faced up to Dialga: "Were you really in that orb for all this time?"

"Apparently," the sliver and blue dragon replied after a moment of hesitation. "I think I know what being in one of those Pokéballs humans have is like now. I was barely aware."

"Ha ha, I'm really glad you're back," Blaze went on. "We thought…ever since you disappeared in your battle with Kol", and he gave a quick glare to the Pokémon-human, "that you might have been…dead."

"I _said_ I only sent them somewhere," Kol returned.

"But we didn't know that until today!" Blaze retorted with a sharp tail whip.

"All has worked out, Blaze," Dialga said with a calm voice. "But I'm interested in hearing Leo explain all that has happened since. And I see your other existence is here, too."

Leo quietly translated the exchange to his human self and Sally, who both seemed awe-struck at both Dialga's and Giratina's presence in whispering between themselves. Addressing the other dragon in his most friendly tone: "You're Giratina? Pleased to meet you."

The dragon spread his wispy black wings slightly while looking down at him and everyone else in a considering stare. "I don't know you. But…you seem you know Dialga quite well."

Dialga gave a single chuckle. "Yes, this swampert and infernape, in their un-evolved forms, saved me from an insanity," pointing to each of them. "And in return I pulled Leo out of a collapsing timeline." The two dragons stared at each other as Lonny took over the translating duty.

"I never thought I'd see Dialga," Ruby commented quietly. "I knew about Arceus, but not really Dialga. I heard his name mentioned a few times…but thought such a Pokémon couldn't exist. And if he did, believed him maybe…malevolent."

Leo could only give her a stare.

Sceptile let out a hiss of surprise: "No, he's real. And he's quite nice, according to what Leo and Blaze had told me. Although Blaze once thought that when he left their team…"

"Why would I be malevolent?" Dialga suddenly asked, swinging his head to the female infernape.

"It's a long story," Leo replied for Ruby, hoping the time-regulating Pokémon hadn't taken offense, although his tone was more questioning than anything.

"Now I'm really looking forward to hearing everything," Dialga said. "Perhaps after we return to our world, we can eat something and listen to your tale. I'm feeling quite hungry."

"You've been in that orb for a year and a half apparently," Sceptile said. "Little doubt you would be."

"Sorry, but you look familiar," the dragon returned after fixing his gaze on the grass-type for half moment. "You wouldn't be the grovyle that was helping Leo and Blaze on Earth, would you?"

_Oh of course_, Leo thought. This Sceptile (Grovyle) and Dialga never even came close to meeting each other! He gave his head a quick shake in trying to keep the timelines straight.

"He is," Blaze answered. "He only just evolved."

Sceptile nodded at this, folding his arms across his red chest.

"Ah!" Dialga exclaimed. "Blaze and Leo told me how brave you were in the Future-That-No-Longer-Exists, and I've had a few glimpses into that destroyed timeline myself. Celebi mentioned how this version of you was helping on Earth. For that, I must thank you."

Sceptile looked down in obvious modesty. "Well, I have no knowledge of what my other now non-existent self did on the Poké world back then, except for what Leo and Blaze told me."

The two continued chatting for a while as Ruby started asking questions about the time-regulating Pokémon. Leo did his best to answer with Blaze's help as Lonny stayed close, giving his fins a gentle massage for a nice distraction and eliciting the occasional "Oh" from him. During this, he felt relieved seeing his other self and Sally at least talking to Kol, and in a civil manner no less. With any luck, Kol was being forgiven. Above all of them, Akri hovered near Giratina; though staying quiet, the Guardian seemed to be looking over the large, mysterious yellow and black Pokémon rather closely…and Giratina in turn was watching the floating Pokémon just as closely with movements of his red eyes.

The sudden opening of the doors had everyone turning before Palkia's light purple form came walking out on his massive legs.

"That was a while," Dialga commented.

"Arceus asked me to, as he put it, 'wrap up some things'."

"Is Arceus still in there?" Blaze asked.

"He's just leaving this dimension now, as we will be shortly." Even as the space-regulating Pokémon finished speaking, a white brilliance radiated from the summoning chamber behind him. "And, he also asked me to inform the humans he was giving them a gift."

"Give them something?" Sceptile asked.

"I better translate that," Lonny said with a sigh before doing so.

Then as the glow from the summoning room died…the two humans started glowing themselves!

* * *

While Lonny told them what the light-purple dragon Pokémon had said, Leo Hanson noticed what felt like a sudden headache coming on fast. And nearly at the same time, realized his wife was beginning to glow! Actually…he was too! His first thought was they didn't need healing for the second time that day…except the headache rapidly intensified.

_ Severely._

Sally was gasping in front of him, slapping her hands to her head, and he could only do the same while doubling over as the intense, sharp pain made it feel like his head was about to literally explode! Lonny translated this was a _gift?_ Was Arceus trying to kill them?

Through tearing eyes, he barely noticed his swampert counterpart and Blaze immediately at their sides, Ruby putting her hands on his arm and shoulder, yipping fearfully. Sceptile and Lonny were likewise trying to comfort Sally… He tried to reach and cradle his wife too, only succeeding with one arm as his head throbbed even worse without both hands pressing against it.

Yet…as suddenly as it arrived, the pain began fading. In only a moment, it was completely and totally gone!

A swampert face was instantly in front of his: "What happened?"

"Are you alright? Leo, Sally?" Lonny asked urgently.

Still kneeling, he looked first to his wife, who was sitting up without any hint of pain either but blinking rapidly, then up at everyone. "It…passed…whatever it was."

Sally returned a nod, brushing her long red hair out of her face, which now had a sheen of sweat. "Yeah, it's gone," she almost sighed out.  
"So what was that?" Kol asked from somewhere behind everyone else. "You were glowing for a good half-minute. Sure didn't look like healing."

"The most intense headache you can imagine," Sally answered, wiping her forehead.

Leo nodded, taking a deep breath himself. "Hell, what kind of gift was that?" Seeing Palkia's head from between his counterpart's and Blaze's shoulders, the dragon Pokémon seemed to give a shrug with his narrow shoulders, though somehow appeared worried, if such was possible on his seemingly ridged face.

"I don't know," Lonny replied, also giving the Pokémon a glance before offering Sally a blue hand in getting up.

Accepting his counterpart's, Blaze's and Ruby's help, he did likewise, suddenly wishing to just get away as quickly as possible. "Well, how about we get back to our own planet now?"

"I know I've had enough of this planet, ha ha," Blaze yipped with a whip of his tail.

Sally nodded in apparent ready agreement. "Nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live here," Sally said. "No offense, Ruby."

"I feel the same way now," the female infernape replied. "This isn't the home I know anymore."

In time with his wife's widened eyes, Leo took a double take at the two infernapes and just…stared. Did the pain actually make him pass out and he was dreaming, or just merely hearing things?

"Uh…what?" Blaze asked before turning to Lonny in obvious expectation of it to be translated.

"You can _talk!_" Sally blurted before Lonny could get a word out.

"You to," Leo added, pointing to Ruby. Of course, seeing the furrowed forehead on Blaze and Ruby made him quickly realize the idiocy of their statements. "I mean…we can understand you!"

"Seriously?" his counterpart asked, still in human-speak.

Blaze's mane started puffing up as he moved his tail behind the swampert.

Lonny stood up straighter. "But…humans can't…"

"Say something in Poké speak!" Sally urged.

The male infernape glanced around to the others before facing Sally. "Uh…I'm talking, ha ha. Can you understand me?"

"Perfectly!" Leo answered instead, heart suddenly racing. Facing his beautiful long haired red head of a wife and embracing her: "I don't believe it! We can understand him! Every word!"

"We don't need it translated anymore!" Sally returned, almost laughing.

"So it was a gift then," Kol commented.

He barely heard the comment. This was a dream come true: to be able to understand what a Pokémon said, word for word! He let Sally go to turn and slap both hands on Blaze's red infernape face with pure excitement, making the Pokémon's ears perk, yellow and blue eyes go wide, and mane puff a bit more. While moving the skin of his muzzle around: "Say something more! Keep talking Blaze!"

While removing the hands from his face: "I can talk better without my face covered, Leo, ha ha."

"Oh, sorry!" he hastened.

"Well, I can say lots of things," Ruby said from the side. "Like I'm really glad you can understand me now and Lonny doesn't have to translate anymore. This is how things are supposed to be!"

Completely letting go of Blaze, he next grabbed Sceptile. "My long-time companion, say something!"

"I'm glad you can finally understand me directly," the grass-type replied with a happy tone and accents on the S's. "I've always hoped you would someday be able to!"

He gave his nearly life-long friend a strong hung before spotting the rhydon who was observing all this with the golden skarmorys at some distance. "You too! Let me hear you, friends."

The cream-colored rhydon exchanged glances with the skarmorys. In a deep tone: "Um…I'm happy for you," the Pokémon said. "I never knew that humans couldn't understand us before meeting you."

"I've heard tales that humans used to understand Pokémon speech long ago before they left here," Uononi added in a squawky voice. "Arceus restored that gift upon you."

The other two skarmorys added their own agreement.

Taking a step forward, "Humans that can understand Pokémon again; it has been a while," Dialga commented in a deeper voice than the rhydon.

"Yes, a very long time," Palkia added. "But as happy as you all look, I should return you now. Arceus left me with a great deal of energy to create the portal, but it won't last long."

Oh… Suddenly, he wasn't in a hurry to leave! In fact, he had a sudden strong desire to visit as many Pokémon as he could find just to hear them talk!

"So soon?" Sally asked, more to him than Palkia though.

"Unless we want to wait much longer before I can gather that much energy for the portal, Palkia replied. "It's a very long way."

"You are leaving now?" Uononi asked, hopping in front of the other two.

"It sounds like it," Leo replied, feeling some of the elation leave him as Palkia walked by all of them, the pearls in his shields glowing softly, to the side of the hall-like room where a small glowing disk was already forming in mid-air.

"Then, I wish you well, humans. I've only heard tales of you passed down over many generations. We helped you as we were told, but I'm glad it was us who had the honor of doing it and of meeting you. Now the long watching and waiting for my flock is over."

"I'm…happy to have met you too," he returned. "Thank you for all you have done."

"What will you do now?" his swampert counterpart asked as he approached the large bird a few steps.

Uononi faced the other two skarmorys before giving what appeared a shrug with her wings. "Live well. I guess we won't meet again, so I hope you live well too, all of you. Farewell." With that, all three birds flapped their metallic feathered wings and took flight through the open doors to the summoning chamber, and presumably out the broken windows out of sight high above.

"I wish you well too," the rhydon said as he backed away from Palkia and the growing portal.

Leo smiled, returning the wish with a nod. What was amazing was although each of the Pokémon sounded completely different in the type of vocalizations they made, he could put similar meanings to all of them. It was truly incredible!

"Giratina, why did you choose not to take your own group of humans and instead stay in your world?" Dialga's voice asked behind them.

The yellow and black dragon Pokémon made a non-verbal noise before answering: "I like my world."

"You could have taken some humans there too," Dialga insisted. "And…when my Temporal Tower was under assault, I could have used your help. Collapse of time most certainly would have affected your dimension too. In fact, it did, from what I can still see of that timeline."

Leo wanted to hear more of that conversation, but Ruby's face appeared before his, looking worried.

"If…if you're going back to your home…I...my home…no longer exists. My family and friends, they must be since dead. I have no where to go!"

"Oh..." Blaze exclaimed.

Leo hesitated himself. He hadn't really thought about it; of course she couldn't go back to where she came from! But in thinking on it, he hadn't forgotten about how much she "liked" him, even though the events of the last couple days seemed to have sidetracked it. But seeing his wife give a nod: "I guess you should probably come back with us then." In going back to a world that was absolutely full of self-sufficient Pokémon, he had a sudden hope she would find another Pokémon to be the object of her affection! That was…once she was over any lingering fear of other Pokémon.

"Don't worry, you'll like the Poké world," Lonny said with a hand to the infernape's yellow-haired shoulder. "Or even Earth."

"Isn't that…'Poké world' full of Pokémon you said?" Ruby asked tentatively.

"All the Pokémon in Treasure Town are very friendly!" Blaze encouraged behind her. "They'll make you feel right at home! They even helped Leo and Sally build their house."

He noticed what appeared as a faint glimmer of a smile cross Ruby's lips as her eyes focused back on him. Oh no, she wasn't thinking...

"What about Earth?" she asked, though. "That's where you really come from, right? A world full of humans?"

If having more humans around made her feel more comfortable, than Earth would be the better fit. As well as an opportunity to get some distance...although, he immediately had the feeling he would miss her. Shrugging, "I don't see why you can't come with us the next time the portal from Earth opens…" Before he could finish, Ruby embraced him tightly with a hug before he felt a shoulder tap from his swampert counterpart.

"I was going to tell you when I got the chance, but there were a few complications when we left Earth."

"As yes, you might not be too welcomed there presently," Kol added, his eyes suddenly on the swampert as he put on a pair of thin-framed sunglasses from a pocket which looked a little worse for wear.

"What?" Sally's long hair flew as she whipped around to face the hybrid.

"But my impression was Sonya seemed capable of handling the situation eventually."

Instantly, all sorts of things occurred to him, particularly involving what Kol might have done!

"All right, what happened?" Sally demanded, directing it at the swampert.

"It'll take some time to explain," the swampert evaded, gesturing to the still growing portal.

"Was it something _you_ did?" Sceptile hissed at Kol, a slight growl to his voice.

Kol grimaced, though somewhat humorously. "Actually I didn't do anything; it was all politics. Getting me through the portal was merely the trigger. But if you want to visit Earth, I'd make backup plans with Palkia."

Leo watched his wife become open-mouthed. He shrugged at her angry stare, looking in turn to his counterpart. With a sarcastic note: "Guess we also are going to be looking forward to _your_ story."

"Hey, you have some more explaining to do to me too," the swampert countered, pointing to the female infernape.

Ruby turned to Sally, then to the swampert, to Kol, and then back to him with her brow furrowed. "So…we might not be able to go to your planet, Earth?"

"I don't know anymore," was the only answer he could give until he was told what the hell happened. Dear God, if his swampert counterpart and Kol mucked things up so badly, that the portal would never open again... After a sigh to calm himself: "But you'll be going with us to the Poké world for sure. We're self-sufficient there, and I think you'll like it. Very friendly Pokémon, plenty of food plants that we brought from Earth, beautiful weather most days…" Indeed, if they were truly cut-off from Earth forever, they at least could survive.

The female infernape looked instantly relieved as she gave him another embrace. "Good."

He put his arms around her back and her thicker upper-body hair, then felt her tail wrapping itself around his waist. "And we'll definitely find you a place to stay, even if we have to build one." Just to be clear where she _wouldn't_ be staying... Lord, if Sally ever saw her kissing him like she had the first time...

Ruby responded with something non-verbal, but sounding sad. "Just wish I could visit my mother one last time."

"Unfortunately, that simply can't be done," Dialga said, obviously overhearing. "Time can sometimes be cruel, but it allowed saving you."

"But Leo was an exception?" Sceptile asked.

"Hey!" Blaze almost screamed.

"Just trying to understand," the fully-evolved grass-type replied, claws up in a no-harm-intended gesture. "I'm personally glad he is! Both you and Leo have been the greatest of friends since I met you."

"Saving the Pokémon Leo involved a disintegrating timeline," Dialga explained. "It was a different situation entirely."

He was glad to hear his counterpart's existence wasn't being reconsidered! About to ask his green long-time partner about his own other self that wasn't saved, it suddenly occurred to him just how to address Sceptile. "You know, I think we need a real name for you, Sceptile."

"Huh, about time," Lonny remarked. "All Pokémon should have names."

As Ruby finally released him (slowly), Leo tried to think of some suitable name, but really, his mind was too scattered to think of much else other than what had already happened, the legendary Pokémon who were now with them, and the fact that they could understand all Pokémon now!

"Sceptile, when you think of a name, let us know," Sally said, taking the pressure off.

"I'm open to suggestions," Sceptile replied, taking one of his wrist blades between his claws.

"The portal is ready," Palkia called in turning around, looking just a bit tired by how his head lowered.

Behind the space-controlling dragon, the portal had grown quite large, easily enough for all three dragons to pass through comfortably.

"It's time to return," Dialga said in moving toward it already. "I've been away for too long and I'm sure I need to visit Temporal Tower." Giratina was actually the first to fade into it with little fanfare, followed then by the Dialga.

For the rest of them, Leo hesitated in front of everyone.

"It takes a lot to maintain this portal," Palkia advised. "It's not just across space, but through this special partial dimension Arceus created. Please hurry." The strain was impossible to miss in his voice.

"Too bad we can't see more of this world," Leo said. They'd spent enough time on the ancient planet that he felt he would miss it now; not so much the adventure they had while there.

"I still think I've seen enough of it," Sally replied. "But ask me again in a few months. Palkia, would it be possible to return if we wanted to?"

"The portal from the Poké world still works…but you would need me to activate it…and me to get you back. Dialga could also activate it from either side if he's willing."

Which seemed to answer the question affirmatively, Leo thought. As Sally grasped his arm and they started walking into the grayish horizon together, he found the rhydon waving to them. Returning the wave: "Goodbye, friend."

"Humans are now friends," the rhydon returned, pointing his horn straight up into the air as if giving a salute of sorts.

Leo smiled and gave a nod, the Pokémon fading from view as they fully entered the portal. Through occasional glimpses as he hung onto to and tumbled with his wife in the dim tunnel, he counted to make sure everyone was indeed following, including Palkia. Remembering the trip to the ancient planet, this time didn't seem as bad, although he was still feeling plenty queasy when they fell (literally) out the other end some seemingly long time later. And the place they came out…was Sharpedo Bluff, with Treasure Town not far down the path.

They were…home!


	26. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Leo Hanson glanced up from the garden to the many puffy white clouds drifting lazily across the late-morning sky. The previous days' rains helped a lot in promoting vigorous growth of all the plants, including weeds. Indeed, after being unable to get into the garden after two solid days, weeds were everywhere. But so were the ripe vegetables and fruits.

Setting the last few turnips in the overflowing woven basket, he mentally thanked Kangason yet again for taking care of things while they had been gone. Then with the tired sigh of a good morning's work (and sore back), lifted the quite weighted basket and headed inside, kicking muddy shoes off at the door.

Both his wife and Ruby glanced from the table, where Sally was brushing Ruby's long yellow and red mane with a brush. So someone had just got out from their home-made shower, and it could have been a scene like in any house: one woman helping another with her hair. Except they were not on Earth and Ruby was an infernape.

"I guess we'll be cooking today," Sally remarked. "Looks like lots of turnips there."

"Turn...ips?" Ruby asked with raised brow ridge. Then with an infernape smile across her red face: "I can't wait to try them! What do they taste like?"

"Something between potatoes and squash, but slightly bitter if not cooked right," Sally answered.

It'd been nearly a month since they returned from Arceus's ancient home planet, and much to his initial chagrin, Ruby had campaigned (effectively) to stay with him and Sally. At least until they had a home for her. Which wasn't going with his swampert counterpart and Lonny, apparently. On a related note, he wondered again how Blaze was getting on there in Sharpedo Bluff with Lonny there and all. Three could be a crowd…four with Chip. But he'd learned a while ago not to discount the bond between the swampert and infernape; even a mate for one or both would not sever it.

Hefting the basket to the kitchen counter, he started washing them in the waiting large bowl of water, getting most the dirt off before rinsing them in a second. It was a well-practiced routine that effectively made anything they picked ready for eating, sans cooking. Soon two additional set of hands were on either side of him, one light tan like his, the other blue with pale yellow hair on their backside, and he soon caught a whiff of something flowery from the blue-hand side. Apparently someone used scented soap when washing her mane...and probably the rest of her haired body. As if super clean and shiny, her flame-resembling mane was shimmering as if it really was made of fire. Overall, her physical appearance had improved greatly since they rescued her, and it was good to see verses the nearly dead state in which they found her.

If anything had remained constant though, it was she still behaved as if she were human, the depth of which only becoming more apparent over the last month. From doing normal chores, sitting, walking, to her very habits and manners, it was clear how she was raised. Less clear was how much the unknown amount of human DNA in her makeup was influencing that. In fact, if he closed his eyes he could easily picture her as a human…which could make for some uncomfortable situations.

Still, he didn't feel hurried to begin construction on a house for her; she was for the most part behaving herself. There was also the issue of where to build it. Most of Treasure Town's Pokémon thought they should build an addition to their house. Granted, the extra space would be nice, but didn't serve the primary purpose of gaining distance.

A worry for another time. Today was a perfect day, and he was still glad to be home as he sighed contently, taking a potato from Sally for some peeling since the turnips were finished. Besides, Ruby was still adjusting to everything; the infernape didn't act entirely comfortable yet, and he knew she was still grieving over the loss of her human mother and friends. Going forward in time thousands of years had to create the same effect as losing all your loved ones at once! Every so often, he found her wiping a tear from her face, although she always brightened when she found him watching her.

Poor thing.

At the moment she looked happy enough to be slicing up the peeled potatoes. Happy enough that a certain tail was wrapping itself around his one calf. He felt tempted to lightly hit her with a cucumber, but decided against it in the face of a certain distraction. From his other side, Sally kept bumping her shoulder against him. "What?" finally asking with a smile.

"Nothing," she grinned.

Which he had at some point learned was the complete opposite of what she wanted later. OK, so they would need to find a way to get Ruby out of the house that evening. Something he was sure his counterpart could arrange. After all, they'd already taken in Blaze and Chip a night or two... (Which also allowed Ruby to be introduced to the game "It's Get the Mudkip Time", he remembered somewhat wickedly.)

At first he thought it telepathy when there was a knock at the door, and on opening found his swampert counterpart standing there!

"Palkia is here," his counterpart quickly said in Poké speech. "It's time."

His breath caught for an instant before calling Sally and Ruby and getting his hat and other pair of shoes on. "Any hint what this is about yet?" as they set out for Sharpedo Bluff. The day Palkia brought them back to the Poké world, the space-regulating Pokémon said he would return sometime to take them somewhere, as part of another gift. All he said was it was related to what he and Arceus talked about.

The swampert shook his head. "Not that Blaze and Lonny and I haven't tried already." Then a moment later: "Any news from Earth yet?"

It was his turn to shake his head.

Sally verbalized it: "Absolutely nothing; radio's been silent. We might need to ask Palkia for a favor while he's here."

"If Basil is in charge, we might not be very welcomed," cautioning his wife. Although if they had Palkia with them, getting back wouldn't be an issue at least.

"I very much want to know how Chalesti is doing," the swampert commented with a certain lament.

And Ticonamo, George and Naomi, Leo added mentally. "I doubt very much they would hurt a Pokémon," hoping to ease his counterpart's mind…and his. Really, according to his counterpart's story, they all owed Chalesti a great deal.

It only took only moments to reach Treasure Town. Like every other time since they returned and walked through the Pokémon settlement, it felt like a thick veil had been removed in being able to understand all the Pokémon who both lived and visited there. Like the snivy, mildly swearing in struggling to place a heavy-looking bag on the counter at Duskull's Bank with its vines, or Electivire explaining about the energies of an attack to one of the ursaring twins. In passing, he noticed the large yellow electric type wink an eye at them…realizing in a second it was for Ruby.

The female infernape apparently didn't even see it, looking opposite toward Chansey's Day Care as her tail wrapped partly around herself.

Although she had become comfortable around his swampert counterpart, Blaze and Sceptile, it was taking her a while to warm up to everyone else. Except for Chansey. That sweet Pokémon had been making a real effort to make Ruby feel at home. And not just the female infernape. Having helped watched Chip while they had been gone, she seemed the most happy of any of the town's folk to see them back, even going as far as making a special meal for all of them.

"Smell that?" Sally suddenly asked, raising her nose slightly in the midst of a deep inhale.

Taking a sniff, the familiar aroma instantly hit as they passed the day care. "Oran-apple pie." His mouth began watering instantly at the memory of the dessert Chansey had made for the special welcome-back meal. Both sweet and tart beyond words, it seemed she was making it again!

"I know what we're going to be buying when we get back," Sally smirked. "We've got plenty of veggies to trade."

He could only nod. "Might take a few though." Pies required some type of crust, which meant wheat or some other seed-producing grass to make it. And that was expensive to acquire on the Poké world. Just like cloth, he thought in glancing at Ruby's new shorts and primitive half-top they had to make for her. "Next trip to Earth, we're bringing some wheat seeds back."

She seemed to get his connection in nodding also.

For the rest of the walk through town, he was content to just take in the vibrant colors, sounds and smells…until they got to Kangaskhan's warehouse. Two unfamiliar Pokémon, a pair of absols with one sporting an off-color scar across its shoulder, instantly jumped half-around to stare open-mouthed as they walked past.

Kangaskhan just waved from behind the counter, "Hello, Leo, Leo, Sally and Ruby! How you sweeties doing this morning?"

"Just fine Kangaskhan, and you?" Sally returned, grinning.

"Perfect day, as always!" the kangaroo-like Pokémon, who acted like a big aunt or even mother to everyone, replied.

"This is so nice," Sally commented, turning back to him. "I still can't get over that we can understand everyone, all these different Pokémon."

"Arceus really gave you guys quite a gift," the swampert commented, giving his own wave to Kangaskhan.

To his counterpart's statement, he couldn't argue with himself, mentally making the old joke. He listened with amusement to the two absols excitedly asking Kangaskhan about the strange, new species they had just seen, wondering if they were the humans they'd been hearing so much about. Yep, every once in a while new Pokémon still showed up who either hadn't seen or heard about them, or came solely to catch a glimpse of them. It sometimes felt like a zoo, except they were the attraction and the Pokémon were the visitors!

But as they left town, his thoughts returned to the event at hand. Within another moment, he spotted the light-purple dragon Pokémon standing near the end of the bluff shortly before seeing Blaze, Lonny and Chip with him, all small in comparison. And Celebi too, as she came floating around Palkia.

"We're all here," he heard his counterpart announce after they arrived, as if it needed to be said.

Ruby craned her head around, "Where's Akri?"

"He decided yesterday to travel with Uxie," Lonny answered flatly. "Guess he wanted to be with the other Guardians for a while."

"His attendance was optional," Palkia stated in his now familiar low, slightly growly voice.

Leo was about to ask about the reason for their gathering, but was suddenly distracted by his wife.

Creeping up behind an unaware Chip, she quickly made a downward-lunge: "Get-the-Mudkip!" Before the small Pokémon could react, she had him held up by the sides with the little mudfish's rear legs flailing like he was about to be eaten, not unlike a cat being held up just behind its front legs.

"No!" Chip cried with a note of dread. "Help!"

She paid the 'kip plea no mind, instead sandwiching the little Pokémon between her chest and arms and kissing his face all over for the next few seconds, along with a few tickles to his exposed belly. "You're so cute!"

Leo shook his head, resisting joining in. Ever since Ticonamo and Christina introduced the "game" to them, his wife couldn't help playing it most times they saw Chip.

"Ss…stooop..." as Chip struggled to get out under the kissing and tickling assault, still failing his little legs ineffectively. After his mother reached in to give the mudfish a few extra tickles around his rear fin: "Heeellllp! I'm…being…tortured!"

"No, you like this," Lonny replied with a smile.

Palkia was looking down on the little scene with something like amusement about his face. "I didn't know you tortured mudkips around here. Looks like fun." Earning a wide-eyed look up from the much smaller Pokémon, and leaving no doubt the legendary Pokémon did actually have a sense of humor. "However, we need to leave now."

Leo waited as his wife handed off the panting mudkip to his father after giving the poor thing a last loving cuddle against her shoulder. Then leaning in close: "There's going to be hell to pay after he evolves, you know."

"Perhaps we need our own kid," she replied with a certain seriousness about her green eyes.

Not that they hadn't already talked about raising a child on the Poké world…

No doubt, having a child Pokémon around did seem bring out her motherly side, something he had rarely seen before, especially when they worked in the University lab. And…he liked this new side of her.

"So what's this about, Palkia?" Blaze asked, looking up to the light-purple dragon.

"I'll explain when we get there," Palkia replied, raising his arms upward. "First, we will transport to Spacial Rift, where the portal and Dialga are waiting.

"A portal?" Leo asked, exclamation mirrored by both Blaze and Lonny.

"That means we're going some distance," Sally conjectured. "Are we going back to the ancient world?"

Palkia didn't respond but across his face, Leo swore there was the glimmer of a smile before the area around them flashed pure white, although not particularly blinding. After it faded, they were standing on a grassy landscape strewn with grey to black rocks of all sizes, most half-buried, and an odd, stale scent was in the nearly windless air. It didn't look familiar at all…like most of the Poké world, actually.

"This is the famous Spacial Rift?" Sally asked no one in particular.

Sceptile moved a couple steps ahead, working his fingers over one of his wrist leafs. "There's Dialga," nodding toward where the large blue and silver Pokémon stood before a large grey portal some distance away.

They didn't need any prodding as Palkia lead them the distance to the other legendary dragon, except for Ruby, who was taking an extended look around.

"Looks…spacious," she commented while looking to the sky, which appeared with a slight overcast with some sunlight weakly filtering through.

"I'm happy to see all of you again," Dialga greeted. To Palkia: "Where are we going?"

Blaze jerked. "Ha ha, he didn't tell you either?"

"No," Dialga's voice not carrying anything but a neutral tone.

Palkia lowered his head as he seemed to peer through the portal for a moment, the pink pearls on his two shoulder shields now glowing weakly. "It is ready. We must go through now; it is very draining to maintain." The strain on his face was then apparent.

At first no one moved as Palkia took a step back to clear the way. Then Sceptile leapt ahead. "I assume you'll tell us where it goes when we get there?"

The space-regulating Pokémon nodded.

Leo watched as his life-long green friend seemed to take a breath before leaping through the opening. Then again as his counterpart turned to his own partner ahead of them.

"Well, we're next it seems," the swampert said, and together with Blaze, Lonny, and Chip, followed.

Feeling his wife take his arm in hers, "Shall we?" he asked. He didn't get a step before Ruby grabbed his other arm.

"Are you ready?" Sally asked her with a weak smile.

The female infernape nodded.

With that, they stepped up to the fuzzy, light-grey portal horizon and walked in.

It was very much like the portal from the ancient world back to the Poké world, he noted while tumbling through and struggling to hold on to his wife, with Ruby maintaining a good grip on him. If anything, it felt even longer, but with a little less nausea. He assumed he had to be getting used to it, and by the time they exited, he actually felt hungry! Almost as if expecting this, his counterpart handed him a berry, Blaze doing the same for Sally and Ruby, as Celebi, Dialga, and finally Palkia exited behind them.

While munching, he noted they appeared to be on a small mountain, the sun was either rising or setting at about halfway up in a partly cloudy sky. The warmth was nice, but it was only slightly cool anyway with a weak breeze, well within comfortable. They also seemed to be on some kind of stone path leading up to a flat peak not far away.

"OK, where are we?" Sceptile quickly asked, turning his slender neck this way and that. "Don't recognize this at all."

Celebi flew from the side where she had been looking over a slope to float above the grass-type, almost landing on his head. "Neither do I, but it's pretty here, though."

"We're still on the same world," Palkia replied.

It instantly struck him that something didn't add up, and between mouthfuls: "Huh?" Their transport from Sharpedo Bluff to Spacial Rift on the Poké world was almost instant; yet their trip to this place was like traveling between the Poké world and Arceus's ancient world!

"We traveled a long time," his counterpart added, obviously thinking the same thing.

"Yes," Dialga said. "How can we still be on this planet, unless…" Cocking his head, he suddenly looked around as if realizing or sensing something.

"What's wrong?" Ruby asked, looking between Dialga and Palkia. "Are we in the wrong place?"

"We traveled too long to still be on the same world," Sally whispered.

The infernape cocked her head, her shiny mane puffing slightly.

Palkia gave a wave to the portal, it dissipating in seconds. "Follow me," as he moved around all of them to start up the path in the direction of the sun. As they followed: "The journey here is meant primary for Sceptile, Celebi and Dialga, as it will carry the most meaning for them."

"What? How so?" Celebi asked, leaving Sceptile to fly in front of Palkia's head.

As if not hearing, the dragon continued: "For the rest of you, it will perhaps bring a measure of closure as well."

Closure? "Closure to what?" Leo asked. Looking to his wife, she shrugged and his counterpart returned a blank glance.

"Now I'm really curious, ha ha," Blaze commented, tail twitching as they walked.

Sceptile bounded further ahead, almost joining Celebi ahead of Dialga to look up at Palkia, but saying nothing.

Palkia paused them when they came to the foot of a set of wide, grey stone steps leading up. "Dialga, The Future That No Longer Exists, can you still sense it?"

The other dragon remained silent for a moment, eventually giving a nod. "It seems stronger than it should be."

Now continuing up the steps: "Over three years ago, I believe the events were that the Grovyle of that time line forced a certain dusknoir back into the future from where they and the swampert Leo came, leaving Leo and Blaze to place the time gears at the top of Temporal Tower."

"Yes, that happened," Blaze interrupted somewhat sharply, making it clear he didn't want to be reminded of those events.

Palkia gave a rearward stare to the infernape. "The fading of that timeline wasn't instantaneous, though, I've been told."

"No, the changed events would take time…to catch up and erase the temporally unattached events," Dialga elaborated, though sounding distracted. "Although a trace would still be left." Seemingly more to himself: "It should be weak…"

"Like you, Dialga, Arceus saw what was happening during that point of change and was moved."

Leo starting forming a suspicion of what this was leading to, but remained silent as his heart beat a bit faster. He remembered well the history of his swampert counterpart and Blaze, the events leading up to the change in timelines that the two of them had told him. Dialga had plucked his counterpart out of that collapsing timeline. But what if…

"Before the changes fully reached this point, Arceus used his abilities of both space and time together to isolate that timeline into its own completely separate dimension," Palkia seemed to confirm. "And that is where we are now."

As they reached the top of the steps, another short path lead to what looked like a lookout on the top of another small rise. As Palkia again moved to the side to clear the view, Sceptile, Celebi and Dialga stopped dead in front.

"It's…_them…_" the swampert gasped from behind Blaze.

"Them who?" Chip asked, still in his father's arms.

"Oh…" Blaze exclaimed almost breathlessly.

"My…gosh," Celebi added.

On the rise were four back-lit Pokémon staring back: a dusknoir, grovyle, celebi, and another Dialga. And from the look of the grovyle, Leo knew immediately who they had to be! With a cold shiver, it felt like seeing someone back from the dead…

"This is Arceus's gift to them, and he wanted all of you to know that they continue to live," Palkia said. "Their sacrifices were rewarded, and this version of the world was allowed to come out of darkness instead of disappear. They will continue to exist here…forever."


End file.
